The Biden administration has told a US court that Mohammed bin Salman should be granted sovereign immunity in a civil case related to the murder of journalist Jamal Khashoggi, effectively ending a last-ditch attempt to hold the 2018 Assassination Saudi Crown Prince.
In a filing released Thursday night, the Biden administration said the crown prince’s recent promotion to prime minister meant he was “the acting head of government and therefore immune” from the lawsuit.
“The United States government has expressed serious concerns regarding the horrific killing of Jamal Khashoggi and has raised those concerns publicly and with the highest levels of the Saudi government,” the Justice Department said in its filing, and he added that the US had also imposed financial sanctions. and visa restrictions related to the murder.
“However, the doctrine of head of state immunity is well established in customary international law and has been consistently recognized in longstanding executive practice as a status-based determination that does not reflect a judgment on the underlying conduct at issue in the litigation.” he said.
The government’s filing included an attached letter from Richard Visek, acting legal adviser to the US State Department, directing the Justice Department to submit an “immunity suggestion” to the court.
Legal experts say the US government’s position, which was filed in a US district court, will likely lead Judge John Bates to dismiss a civil suit brought against Prince Mohammed and his alleged accomplices by Hatice Cengiz , Khashoggi’s declared girlfriend.
Dawn, a democracy advocacy group that was founded by the slain Washington Post columnist, was a co-plaintiff in the case, which alleged that Prince Mohammed and other Saudi officials acted in a “conspiracy and with premeditation” when Saudi agents hijacked. tied, drugged, tortured and murdered Khashoggi inside the Saudi consulate in Istanbul in 2018.
Sarah Leah Whitson, executive director of Dawn, issued a scathing rebuke of the administration following its decision, calling it an “unnecessary elective action that will only serve to undermine the more important action of accountability for the heinous killing of Khashoggi”.
“It is beyond ironic that President Biden has single-handedly secured it [Mohammed bin Salman] can escape responsibility when it was President Biden who promised the American people that he would do everything possible to hold him accountable. Not even the Trump administration did that,” he said.
In June, Bates invited the Biden administration to weigh in on whether it believed Prince Mohammed should be granted sovereign immunity in the matter and agreed to give the US government two extensions before demanding its views before November 17.
A legal observer close to the matter said it has always been understood that while the US government is not a party to the civil suit, its views would be decisive and that the judge in the matter would likely proceed with the case or discard it depending on the position of the US government.
The decision by the Biden administration, which will effectively extinguish Cengiz’s last hope for justice, is likely to draw intense criticism from Democratic lawmakers on Capitol Hill, who have pressed the administration to take a tougher stance against his partner of the Middle East. A lawyer close to the matter said the decision was “disastrous for accountability, human rights and impunity”.
The legal decision also makes clear that US President Joe Biden has completely abandoned a campaign promise to hold Prince Mohammed accountable for Khashoggi’s murder.
It raises questions about Biden’s public remarks last month, in which he said Saudi Arabia would face “consequences” for leading an OPEC+ decision to cut oil production, a move the administration America considered that it was on the side of Russia for the interests of American allies. .
People familiar with the matter said the decision came after a “huge debate” at the highest levels of the White House, with some senior US officials arguing that it would be difficult to defend the claim of the ‘Biden administration that human rights are at the center of the issue. his foreign policy while allowing “MBS,” as the crown prince is known, to evade responsibility for his alleged role in the assassination.
Cengiz’s lawyers have argued that he turned to US courts for help because no other forum, including his native Turkey, had an independent enough judiciary to fairly resolve his complaint. Prince Mohammed has denied having any personal involvement in Khashoggi’s murder.
It has been clear since June that the future of the case hinged on whether, in the eyes of the US government, Prince Mohammed — widely seen as the de facto ruler of Saudi Arabia — was considered a sovereign, like a president or a king, since in most cases sovereigns are considered immune from US demands.
When Biden first entered the White House, he refused to engage directly with Prince Mohammed. His press secretary argued repeatedly at the time that the prince, while seen as the de facto leader of Saudi Arabia, was not Biden’s counterpart.
At the same time, US intelligence agencies released an unclassified report that said Prince Mohammed had likely ordered Khashoggi’s murder. The president’s position changed last summer, when he visited Jeddah and met with the crown prince, punching the heir to the throne.
The question of whether the prince was actually a sovereign was further complicated in September when King Salman declared that Prince Mohammed would be elevated to the position of prime minister. The decision, which was made public just days before the US government was due to consider the Cengiz case, was seen by human rights advocates as a ploy to avoid responsibility for Khashoggi’s murder.
If the civil case is allowed to proceed, which is unlikely, it would allow Cengiz and Dawn to seek the crown prince’s deposition. If Prince Mohammed loses the case, he could be liable for damages.
“It would mean that every time he came to the United States, if he was found guilty, they could notify him and issue a fine. It would be humiliating and would effectively mean he could not travel to the U.S. again,” said Bruce Riedel, a former analyst at the CIA and fellow at Brookings.
None of that is likely to happen now.
“The pariah is now above the law,” Riedel said.