Saudi Crown Prince Bin Salman immune in the US from Khashoggi’s murder

Mohammed bin Salmanthe crown prince of Saudi Arabia, will not be tried in the US for the murder of the journalist Jamal Khashoggi, critical of the Saudi royal house, who was assassinated and dismembered in the consulate of the Arab country in Istanbul. The Administration of Joe Biden has declared the president immune, based on international law that applies to heads of state.

Khashoggi worked for The Washington Post and from his journalistic work he denounced the excesses of the royal house of Saudi Arabia in matters of Human Rights. On October 2, 2018, the reporter disappeared after entering the Saudi consulate in Istanbul to process some documents and be able to marry his partner.

His remains have not appeared in this time, so the investigations carried out by United States Intelligence determined that he was assassinated and dismembered there by order of Mohammed bin Salman.

Following the complaint filed by the wife of the missing journalist, the State Department “under well-established principles and based on international law” has declared the immunity of the Saudi prince, according to a spokesman for the White House National Security Council.

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The wife of the disappeared Hatice Cengizhas shown his indignation at this scandalous impunity of the son of the Saudi monarch and has condemned the decision of the United States Government on social networks: “Jamal died again today. I thought that perhaps there would be light for justice,” he wrote.

The immunity is given because the king of Saudi Arabia, Salman bin Abzulaziz, named his son Prime Minister and de facto leader of the country on September 27 in order to shield his son from Justice. The crown prince was already the holder of several ministerial portfolios in his country and has made the main decisions of the Riyadh government for a long time.

The US courts that were to try Bil Salman had asked the Biden administration this July about the prince’s immunity. It was necessary to know his legal situation as president before the lawsuit filed by Khashoggi’s wife, and the organization Democracy for the Arab World in the US, against the Saudi heir and 20 other individuals of the same nationality.

What the widow demanded, in addition to the payment of civil damages, was to be able to clarify through the US justice system the involvement of senior Saudi officials in the murder of her husband and to obtain the publication of all the information about the case that the agents had. American intelligence.

The case has already been tried in Saudi Arabia in 2020, and the result includes jail sentences for eight people as responsible for the murder. Five of those involved were freed, thanks to subsequent appeals, from the death sentence that had initially been handed down against them in December 2019.

However, those who have cleared themselves of any responsibility for the journalist’s disappearance were Bin Salman’s former adviser and one of the main suspects, Saud al-Qahtanireleased for lack of evidence, as well as Ahmed al-Asirinumber two of Saudi Intelligence, and Mohamed al-Otaibi, Consul General of Saudi Arabia in Istanbul at the time of the crime. Justice seems to be blinder than ever in relation to the outrageous death of the editor of The Washington Post.