On Thursday, the United States (US) asserted that Saudi Arabia’s Crown Prince and Prime Minister (PM), Mohammed Bin Salman (MBS), should be granted immunity in a lawsuit over the 2018 murder of Saudi journalist Jamal Khashoggi because he is a sitting head of state.
In an effective U-turn on President Joe Biden’s strong stance of holding MBS accountable for his role in the Khashoggi murder, the US Department of State (DOS) said that it is “purely a legal determination.”
The Biden administration sold Jamal Khashoggi's blood for Saudi oil by recognizing and suggesting "immunity" for MBS, who ordered his brutal killing.#JamalKhashoggi pic.twitter.com/XplbPLAyzB
— Nihad Awad (@NihadAwad) November 18, 2022
Similarly, lawyers for the Department of Justice (DOJ) noted in a document filed in the District Court for the District of Columbia that “the doctrine of head of state immunity is well established in customary international law and has been consistently recognised in longstanding executive branch practice as a status-based determination that does not reflect a judgment on the underlying conduct at issue in the litigation.”
It added that the Biden administration “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.”
According to sources, the Biden administration came to the decision after a “big debate,” wherein many senior officials argued that Washington could not argue that human rights are an important area of Washington’s foreign policy while granting MBS immunity.
The announcement has also received severe criticism from fellow Democrats, who have urged Biden to take a strong position on Saudi Arabia. An anonymous senior congressional Democratic aide called it “disappointing,” stressing, “Actions such as this contradict the Administration’s hollow assurances of accountability and fly in the face of our own intelligence assessments of MBS’ involvement.”
The Biden administration’s recommendation is non-binding and the court could still proceed to indict MBS.
Caving into MBS' immunity ploy -- when silence was an option for the administration -- not only rewards MBS for his intransigence, including continued attacks on activists in the US -- but signals GO to tyrants around the world. Have oil & $? You're safe whatever your crimes.
— Sarah Leah Whitson (@sarahleah1) November 18, 2022
The US-based journalist was murdered at the Saudi Consulate in Istanbul in October 2018 after entering the premises to acquire some documents related to his upcoming wedding to his fiancée Hatice Cengiz. According to US Intelligence officials, his body was dismembered and has never been found as yet.
Subsequently, Cengiz along with Khashoggi’s human rights group Democracy for the Arab World Now (DAWN) sued MBS and 28 high-ranking Saudi officers in a Washington court. Riyadh has always maintained that MBS had nothing to do with the murder. MBS himself has said it was “obvious” that he had no involvement, claiming that he had “never read a Khashoggi article” in his life and if he were to hypothetically send a kill squad, he would choose more valuable targets. He has since alleged that the operation was undertaken by rogue agents who have since been punished, and said his only culpability was that this “huge mistake” took place “under my watch.”
The US released a report last February accusing MBS of approving a plan to assassinate Washington Post journalist Khashoggi. However, Biden ruled out taking any legal action against the leader of a strategic ally.
After MBS was accorded the status of a PM in September, his attorneys argued that “the Royal Order leaves no doubt that the Crown Prince is entitled to status-based immunity” in a 3 October appeal, asking the court to dismiss the case.
#Biden saved the murderer by granting immunity. He saved the criminal and got involved in the crime himself. Let's see who will save you in the hereafter? @POTUS https://t.co/TVFx4xSa3j
— Hatice Cengiz خديجة (@mercan_resifi) November 18, 2022
On Thursday, the DOS said that the recommendation “takes no view on the merits of the present suit and reiterates its unequivocal condemnation of the heinous murder of Jamal Khashoggi.”
“From the earliest days of this Administration, the United States Government has expressed its grave concerns regarding Saudi agents’ responsibility for Jamal Khashoggi’s murder,” it noted with respect to visa bans and other penalties issued to lower-ranking Saudi officials in the aftermath of the murder.
DAWN chief Sarah Leah Whitson condemned the Biden administration, saying, “It’s beyond ironic that President Biden has singlehandedly assured MBS can escape accountability when it was President Biden who promised the American people he would do everything to hold him accountable.”
During his 2020 presidential campaign, Biden vowed to make a “pariah” out of the Saudi rulers, and called it a “flat-out murder” and should be treated that way with those in power facing “consequences” for the crime. After becoming President, the US-Saudi ties reached a “breaking point” due to bickering over various issues, including the Khashoggi killing, the Iran nuclear deal, and the war in Yemen.
Regardless that MBS sides with Putin, cuts oil production & votes not to hold Russia accountable, the Biden Admin rewards him by shielding the Saudi dictator from lawsuits related to his barbaric murder of #JamalKhashoggi … the U.S. has moved to grant MBS sovereign immunity. pic.twitter.com/Mobt6ZGXc5
— Rula Jebreal (@rulajebreal) November 18, 2022
Biden also irked MBS by saying that he views the 86-year-old King Salman as his counterpart, not the Crown prince. In fact, in February, MBS refused to participate in a scheduled phone call with Biden, in an indication of the growing rift between the two leaders.
The following month, MBS told The Atlantic that he was not bothered by the criticism levelled against him by the US following Khashoggi’s murder, saying the Biden administration would only harm US interests by alienating the Saudi monarchy.
A few months later, before embarking on his first Middle-East tour as President in July, Biden wrote in an opinion piece in the Washington Post that he was visiting Saudi Arabia in order to “reorient—but not rupture—relations with a country that’s been a strategic partner for 80 years.” In fact, during the visit, human rights concerns took a backseat in a concerted effort to mend strained ties with Riyadh. Biden was also criticised back home for sharing a fist bump with MBS.
Following his trip, Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) members Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates (UAE) agreed to “significantly increase” oil output in the event of a global supply crisis this winter the next month.
However, despite Biden’s best efforts to repair relations with Riyadh, OPEC+, led by Saudi Arabia, announced last month that they would cut oil production by two million barrels per day (bpd). Washington criticised the move, calling the decision “short-sighted” and said it indicated that OPEC+ is helping Russia. However, later that same month, Saudi Arabia rejected the US’ allegations and promised to send Ukraine $400 million in humanitarian aid and also expressed interest in mediating Russia-Ukraine peace negotiations.