Lawsuit against Saudi crown prince dismissed after Biden administration recommended he is given immu
Source: cnn
By Alex Marquardt and Tierney Sneed, CNN
Updated 5:46 PM EST, Tue December 6, 2022
A federal judge has dismissed a lawsuit against Saudi Arabia’s crown prince after the Biden administration recommended he be granted immunity in the case brought against him by the fiancée of murdered Washington Post journalist Jamal Khashoggi.
Judge John Bates said in an opinion that despite his “uneasiness,” the US government told the DC District Court that Prince Mohammed bin Salman is immune since he also holds the title of prime minister and so he is “entitled to head of state immunity.”
That unease was not only due to the prince’s involvement in Khashoggi’s murder, the judge wrote, but also the timing of his appointment as prime minister of Saudi Arabia. Bin Salman, known as MBS, was only made prime minister – and therefore the technical head of the government – in late September in what observers saw as a ploy to secure head of government immunity in the lawsuit brought by Hatice Cengiz and Khashoggi’s advocacy group DAWN.
Bates noted the “suspicious timing” of the prince’s appointment and the plaintiffs’ argument that until now, only the king was the country’s prime minister.
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Had the administration not made that recommendation, Bates wrote Tuesday, the court would have considered the arguments that the case against MBS should not be dismissed. Instead, going against the will of the administration would “unduly interfere” with their diplomatic responsibilities. ..............................
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Read more: https://www.cnn.com/2022/12/06/politics/saudi-crown-prince-lawsuit-dismissed/index.html
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