Saudi prince has immunity in Khashoggi killing lawsuit, say legal professionals By Reuters

(Reuters) – Legal professionals for Saudi Arabian Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, dealing with a U.S. lawsuit over the 2018 killing of Saudi journalist Jamal Khashoggi, informed a courtroom on Monday the crown prince’s appointment as prime minister final week ensured him immunity from prosecution.

Khashoggi was killed by Saudi brokers within the Saudi consulate in Istanbul in an operation which U.S. intelligence believed was ordered by Prince Mohammed, who has been the dominion’s de facto ruler for a number of years.

The prince denied ordering Khashoggi’s killing, however acknowledged later it befell “beneath my watch.”

Final week his aged father King Salman named him prime minister in a royal decree which a Saudi official stated was according to obligations the crown prince was already exercising.

“The Royal Order leaves little question that the Crown Prince is entitled to status-based immunity,” legal professionals for the prince stated in a petition requesting the courtroom dismiss the case, citing different circumstances the place the US has recognised immunity for a overseas head of state.

U.S. President Joe Biden, who fist-bumped the crown prince on a go to to Saudi Arabia in July to debate vitality and safety points, had informed Prince Mohammed that Biden held him answerable for Khashoggi’s killing. He stated Prince Mohammed denied involvement and asserted these concerned had been held to account.

Khashoggi, who criticized the crown prince’s insurance policies in Washington Put up columns, was killed and dismembered within the Saudi consulate in Istanbul. He went there to acquire papers he wanted to marry Hatice Cengiz, a Turkish citizen.

The lawsuit was filed collectively by Cengiz and a human rights group based by Khashoggi, and sought unspecified damages towards the crown prince, recognized within the West as MbS. It additionally named greater than 20 different Saudis as co-defendants.

It charged that MbS, his co-defendants and others carried out a plot to “completely silence Mr. Khashoggi” after discovering he deliberate to make use of the group as “a platform to espouse democratic reform and promote human rights.”

The courtroom had requested the U.S. Division of Justice to specific a view on whether or not Prince Mohammed had immunity, setting an Oct. 3 deadline for a response.

After the prince’s appointment as prime minister final week, the division stated on Friday it was searching for a 45-day extension to organize its response to the courtroom “in gentle of those modified circumstances.”