The decision by the Biden administration on Thursday that Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman can’t be sued for the journalist’s murder was quickly criticised by Jamal Khashoggi’s ex-girlfriend.
In October 2018, Saudi agents killed Khashoggi at the Saudi consulate in Istanbul and cut him up into pieces.
U.S. intelligence said that the operation was ordered by Prince Mohammed, who has been in charge of the kingdom for a long time.
“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.”
“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.”
Further inquiries were sent to the State and Justice Departments by the spokeswoman.
Attorneys for the Justice Department stated in a statement submitted to the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia that “the doctrine of head of state immunity is well established in customary international law.”
The executive arm of the U.S. government, i.e. the Biden Administration, has “decided that defendant bin Salman, as the sitting leader of a foreign country, possesses head of state immunity from the jurisdiction of U.S. courts as a result of that office,” according to Justice Department lawyers.
According to a Saudi official, Prince Mohammed’s appointment as prime minister by Saudi King Salman in late September was in keeping with the duties the crown prince was already carrying out.
In a petition filed on October 3 asking a federal district court in Washington to dismiss the case, the prince’s attorneys stated that “the Royal Order leaves no doubt that the Crown Prince is entitled to status-based immunity,” citing other instances in which the United States had recognised immunity for a foreign head of state.
