US court dismisses lawsuit against Saudi Crown Prince over Khashoggi killing

Washington, December 7

A US federal judge has dismissed a lawsuit against Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman in the killing of US-based journalist Jamal Khashoggi, bowing to the Biden administration’s insistence that the prince was legally immune in the case.

District of Columbia US District Judge John D Bates heeded the US Government’s motion to shield Prince Mohammed from the lawsuit despite what Bates called “credible allegations of his involvement in Khashoggi’s murder”. A team of Saudi officials killed Khashoggi inside the Saudi consulate in Istanbul in 2018. Khashoggi, a columnist, had written critically of the harsh ways of Prince Mohammed, Saudi Arabia’s de facto ruler. The US intelligence community concluded that the Saudi crown prince ordered the operation against Khashoggi. He had entered the Saudi consulate to get documents needed for his marriage. — AP

Bid to Mend rift

• The killing of Jamal Khashoggi opened a rift between the Biden administration and Saudi Arabia that the administration has tried in recent months to mend
• The US unsuccessfully urged the kingdom to undo oil production cuts in a global market racked by the Ukraine war
• The Biden administration, invited but not ordered by the judge to offer an opinion on the matter, declared last month that Prince Mohammed’s standing as Saudi Arabia’s PM gave him sovereign immunity from the US lawsuit