Saudi Arabia’s Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman is “immune” in a civil lawsuit over the 2018 murder of Saudi journalist Jamal Khashoggi, the US government says in a court document filed Thursday (November 17th) in court. A recommendation, however, not binding on the court.
Prince bin Salman was appointed prime minister by royal decree in late September, sparking speculation that he was seeking to avoid legal risks stemming from complaints filed in foreign courts – including a civil suit launched in the United States by Hatice Cengiz , the Turkish fiancée of the journalist murdered in Istanbul.
” A license to kill »
The latter posted a series of angry messages on Twitter in reaction: “ Jamal died a second time today “, she writes.
The same tone with Agnès Callamard, Secretary General of the NGO Amnesty International, who describes the US government’s recommendation as ” deep betrayal “.
The U.S. government recommendation tabled on Thursday gave the Saudi leader “ a license to kill “, denounced Khalid al-Jabri, the son of Saad al-Jabri, an ex-Saudi spy who accused the prince of sending him a team of killers in Canada.
The murder four years ago of Jamal Khashoggi, a close friend of Saudi power who later became a critic, in the kingdom’s consulate in Istanbul (Turkey), had temporarily made the prince a pariah in the West. His lawyers had previously argued that Mr. bin Salman “ seat at the top of the government of Saudi Arabia and therefore should enjoy the immunity that US courts accord to heads of state and other high-ranking foreign officials. The prince, who has been the kingdom’s de facto ruler for several years, served as deputy prime minister and defense minister during the reign of his father, King Salman.
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After a relative period of sidelining following the murder of the journalist, he returned to the international scene this year, thanks in particular to the American president, who traveled to saudi arabia in July when he had previously vowed to make the kingdom a ” pariah “.
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In the civil litigation at Columbia initiated by Ms. Cengiz and DAWN, plaintiffs claim that MBS and more than 20 co-defendants, “ acting conspiratorially and with premeditation, abducted, bound, drugged, tortured and murdered » Jamal Khashoggi, a columnist for the American daily Washington Post.
They demand financial compensation and seek to demonstrate that the murder was ordered by ” the top of the Saudi power hierarchy “.
(with AFP)