US court rejects lawsuit against Saudi prince in journalist Jamal Khashoggi killing

US: A US federal court dismissed a lawsuit against Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman in the assassination of US-based writer Jamal Khashoggi on Tuesday, heeding the Biden administration's position that the prince was legally immune in the case.

The District of Columbia Despite what Bates called “credible allegations of his involvement in Khashoggi’s murder,” US District Judge John D. Bates granted the US government's plea to insulate Prince Mohammed from the case.
In 2018, a team of Saudi officials assassinated Khashoggi inside the Saudi consulate in Istanbul. Khashoggi, a Washington Post columnist, had written critically of Saudi Arabia's de facto ruler, Prince Mohammed.

Also Read: North Korea executes 2 minors for watching K-dramas

The death widened a schism between the Biden administration and Saudi Arabia

The US intelligence community decided that the operation against Khashoggi was directed by Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman. The death widened a schism between the Biden administration and Saudi Arabia, which the government has attempted to heal in recent months by urging the kingdom to reverse oil production cuts in a global market roiled by the Ukraine conflict.
Khashoggi went to the Saudi consulate to get documents for his planned marriage. The case was filed by his girlfriend, Hatice Cengiz, who had been waiting outside the embassy while he was killed, and a rights organisation created by Khashoggi before he died. The lawsuit also implicated two of the prince's closest advisors as collaborators.

The Biden administration announced last month that Prince Mohammed's position as Saudi Arabia's prime minister provided him with sovereign immunity from the US lawsuit, despite the fact that the judge had invited but not ordered it to do so.

Saudi King Salman had appointed his son, Prince Mohammed, as Prime Minister a few weeks ago. It was a one-time exception to the kingdom's governing code, which appoints the king prime minister.

Also Read: Kerela: Session court grants double life term to 2 convicts in Latvian tourist rape, murder case

Allegations of Khashoggi's girlfriend and his rights group

Khashoggi's girlfriend and his rights group claimed the move was a ruse to keep the prince out of the US legal system.
Bates voiced "unease" about Prince Mohammed's new title, writing in Tuesday's judgement that “there is a strong argument that plaintiffs’ claims against bin Salman and the other defendants are meritorious.”

The judge noted that the government's determination that Prince Mohammed was immune left him with no alternative but to dismiss the prince as a plaintiff. He also ruled that the US court lacked jurisdiction over the two additional Saudi claimants.

The Biden administration maintained that lengthy legal precedent on immunity for heads of government from foreign courts mandated that the prince be protected as prime minister, despite the prince only recently receiving the title.

The Biden administration had already exempted Prince Mohammed from government prosecution in the case, asserting sovereign immunity once more. Rights groups and Saudi exiles said that absolving Prince Mohammed of responsibility for Khashoggi's murder would give the crown prince and other authoritarian regimes the green light for future atrocities.

Keep watching our YouTube Channel ‘DNP INDIA’. Also, please subscribe and follow us on FACEBOOK, INSTAGRAM, and TWITTER