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WASHINGTON: The Biden administration ruled on Thursday that Saudi Arabian Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman has immunity from a lawsuit over the murder of Jamal Khashoggi, drawing immediate condemnation from the slain journalist’s former fiancée.
Khashoggi was killed and dismembered in October 2018 by Saudi agents in the Saudi consulate in Istanbul, an operation which U.S. intelligence believed was ordered by Prince Mohammed, who has been the kingdom’s de facto ruler for several years.
“Jamal died again today,” Khashoggi’s ex-fiancée, Hatice Cengiz, said on Twitter minutes after the news became public. She added later: “We thought maybe there would be a light to justice from #USA But again, money came first.”
The Saudi government communications office did not immediately respond to a request for comment on Friday.
A spokesperson for the Saudi consulate in Washington could not be reached for comment on Thursday evening, after business hours.
“This is a legal determination made by the State Department under longstanding and well-established principles of customary international law,” a spokesperson for the White House National Security Council said in a written statement. “It has nothing to do with the merits of the case.”
The spokesperson referred further questions to the State and Justice Departments.
In a document filed in U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia, Justice Department attorneys wrote that “the doctrine of head of state immunity is well established in customary international law.”
Justice Department lawyers said that the executive branch of U.S. government, referring to the Biden Administration, had “determined that defendant bin Salman, as the sitting head of a foreign government, enjoys head of state immunity from the jurisdiction of U.S. courts as a result of that office.”
In late September, Saudi King Salman named Prince Mohammed prime minister in a royal decree which a Saudi official said was in line with responsibilities that the crown prince was already exercising.
“The Royal Order leaves no doubt that the Crown Prince is entitled to status-based immunity,” lawyers for the prince said in an Oct. 3 petition requesting a federal district court in Washington dismiss the case, citing other cases where the United States has recognized immunity for a foreign head of state.
