US determines Saudi Crown Prince is immune in case brought by Jamal Khashoggi’s fiancée

CNN ^ | 11/18/22 | Alex Marquardt, CNN

[Attention Surplus Disorder]

The Biden administration has determined that Saudi Arabia’s Crown Prince, Mohammed bin Salman, should be granted immunity in a case brought against him by the fiancée of Washington Post journalist Jamal Khashoggi, whom the administration has said was murdered at the prince’s direction.

A court filing was made by Justice Department lawyers at the request of the State Department because bin Salman was recently made the Saudi prime minister and as a result, qualifies for immunity as a foreign head of government, the request said. It was filed late Thursday night, just before the court’s deadline for the Justice Department to give its views in court on the immunity question and other arguments the prince made for having the lawsuit dismissed.

“Mohammed bin Salman, the Prime Minister of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, is the sitting head of government and, accordingly, is immune from this suit,” the filing reads, while calling the murder “heinous.”

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The decision has already drawn an angry reaction. Amnesty International, an international non-governmental organization focused on human rights, said Friday that the US government “should hang its head in shame. This is nothing more than a sickening, total, deep betrayal.”

The White House had hoped the July trip by President Joe Biden to Saudi Arabia would get the rocky US-Saudi relationship back on track but since then, relations have only continued to sour.

The relationship is being reevaluated, the White House has said, in the wake of an oil production cut by Saudi-led OPEC+ that the administration saw as a direct affront to the US. Members of Congress, already infuriated by the oil cut and calling for a reevaluation, will likely only be angered further if the prince is given immunity.

[marron]

Can you imagine the heartburn if Trump was in office when this ruling was made?

[AnotherUnixGeek]

The Biden administration has determined that Saudi Arabia’s Crown Prince, Mohammed bin Salman, should be granted immunity in a case brought against him by the fiancée of Washington Post journalist Jamal Khashoggi, whom the administration has said was murdered at the prince’s direction.

How does a US court have any jurisdiction over the case of a foreign national murdering another foreign national on foreign soil in the first place? It's none of our business.

[SunkenCiv]

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