‘No choice’ but to dismiss suit against Saudi leader

A US judge has dismissed a lawsuit against Saudi Arabia’s Crown Prince for his alleged role in the murder of Jamal Khashoggi.

Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman. Picture: AFP

A US judge has dismissed a lawsuit against Saudi Arabia’s Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman for his alleged role in the 2018 murder of dissident journalist Jamal Khashoggi.

Washington federal judge John Bates accepted a US government’s stance that Mohammed, who was designated Prime Minister of Saudi Arabia in September, enjoyed immunity in US courts as a foreign head of state.

Judge Bates said the civil suit filed by Khashoggi’s widow Hatice Cengiz and his activist group DAWN made a “strong” and “meritorious” argument that ­Mohammed was behind the ­murder.

But he ruled that he had no power to reject the US government’s official stance, submitted in a formal statement to the court on November 17, that the prince had immunity as a foreign leader.

Even if the prince was named prime minister just weeks ago, the US government’s executive branch “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”, Judge Bates said.

He said the “credible” allegations of the murder, the timing of prince’s being named prime ­minister, and timing of the US government’s submission, left him with “uneasiness”.

But he had no other choice in the case.

One of the prince’s most vocal critics, Khashoggi was a journalist and activist based in the US when he travelled to Turkey with his fiancee to obtain documents for their marriage from the Saudi consulate in Istanbul.

After he entered the consulate, Khashoggi was seized and murdered by a team of agents of the Saudi regime, his body dismembered and disposed of.

AFP