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MBS: US judge dismisses Khashoggi suit against Saudi prince

December 7, 2022

The US government recently said the de facto Saudi ruler was immune from lawsuits connected to the 2018 killing of journalist Jamal Khashoggi. The judge said he had no choice but to comply with the government's stance.

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Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman looks downward while attending a meeting
The federal judge said there were 'strong' arguments that the Saudi prince was behind the journalist's murder, he had to close the caseImage: Balkis Press/ABACAPRESS/picture alliance

A US judge on Tuesday dismissed a lawsuit filed by the fiance of slain journalist Jamal Khashoggi against Saudi Arabia's Crown Prince Mohamed bin Salman.

The US-Saudi dissident journalist was killed in 2018 in a Saudi consulate in Turkey. US intelligence previously concluded that bin Salman, also known as MBS, had ordered the murder. 

But US President Joe Biden's administration said last month that the de facto Saudi ruler's position in a high office should protect him from lawsuits.

What did the judge say? 

Washington DC federal judge John Bates said the civil suit filed by Khashoggi's fiance Hatice Cengiz and the late journalist's rights group made a "strong" and "meritorious" argument that the Saudi prince was behind the murder.

But he said he had no power to reject the US government's position on the matter.

The Biden administration "remains responsible for foreign affairs, including with Saudi Arabia, and a contrary decision on bin Salman's immunity by this Court would unduly interfere with those responsibilities," the judge said.

Bin Salman enjoys immunity in US courts as the head of state of a foreign country, as he was named Saudi Arabia's prime minister in September. He has been the kingdom's de facto ruler — for several years before acquiring the prime minister post — under his 86-year-old father, King Salman.

Bates said the "credible" allegations, the timing of the prince's appointment as prime minister and the timing of the US government's recommendation left him with "uneasiness." 

Jamal Khashoggi's fiancée wants justice

'Our struggle for justice continues' 

Rights group Democracy for the Arab World Now (DAWN), which Khashoggi had founded, condemned Tuesday's ruling. 

DAWN's executive director Sarah Leah Whitson said the group's lawsuit was "only one part" of their efforts for justice and accountability for the killing of Khashoggi "and the many other crimes the Saudi government is perpetrating against its own citizens."

"Our struggle for justice continues," she wrote on Twitter, saying that DAWN was looking into other possible legal actions. 

In October 2018, Khashoggi was killed by Saudi agents in the Saudi consulate in Istanbul, where he had gone to obtain papers he needed to marry Cengiz, a Turkish citizen.

The Saudi crown price previously denied ordering the killing of Khashoggi. But in a 2021 documentary by broadcaster PBS, MBS acknowledged that the killing took place "under my watch."

Khashoggi, a Washington Post columnist, was a vocal critic of the Saudi government and the crown prince's policies. 

fb/rs (AFP, AP, Reuters)