US throws Khashoggi case under a bus after suit against MBS dismissed

By Al Mayadeen English
Source: Agencies
7 Dec 2022 20:43
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Prior to his electoral victory, US President Biden pledged he would make MBS a "pariah" and said he would bring justice to the dismembered victim.

US throws Khashoggi under a bus after court dismisses suit against MBS

A US federal judge ruled on Wednesday that the lawsuit against the Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed Bin Salman be lifted after it was announced by federal authorities that he was basically "immune" from jurisdiction.

The reason for such entitlement was owed to his title as prime minister of Saudi Arabia which he was granted on September 27, just six days before the State Department’s court-imposed deadline to determine whether Mohammed was protected from legal action.

"The US has informed the court that he is immune, and Mohammed is therefore ‘entitled to head of state immunity … while he remains in office,’" reads a filing by Judge John D. Bates of the US District Court for the District of Columbia who heeded the motion to protect the Crown Prince despite there being "credible allegations of his involvement in Khashoggi's murder."

The filing also dismissed the claims filed against two senior Saudi officials due to a lack of evidence in pushing for a ruling over their case.

Civil rights organization, DAWN, founded by the late Jamal Khashoggi condemned the move as a "last ditch effort to escape the jurisdiction of the court."

"DAWN’s lawsuit against [Mohammed] bin Salman (MBS) for his ruthless murder of Jamal Khashoggi is only one part of our continued efforts for justice and accountability for this crime, and the many other crimes the Saudi government is perpetrating against its own citizens," a statement reads by the organization’s executive director, Sarah Leah Whitson. "While we are disappointed in the decision, we will consider all options to continue our legal challenges to MBS’s criminal behavior."

Bin Salman admitted he was responsible for the death of Khashoggi but denied any direct involvement in the assassination.

Prior to his electoral victory, US President Biden pledged he would make MBS a "pariah" and said he would bring justice to the dismembered victim.

But when Biden greeted MBS earlier this year with a fist bump, it was clear to the public that Biden broke his vow.

In response to the outrageous move, Khashoggi's fiance, Hatice Cengiz, urged the President to “uphold your promise to pursue justice for Jamal.”

“President Biden, imagine yourself in my position, trying to move on while knowing that the people who killed your loved one are still free,” Cengiz wrote. “Imagine the trauma of knowing that what happened to your loved one can and will happen to someone else because the perpetrators know there will be no consequences.”

Here is my statement about judge #JohnBates decision.#MBS and his cowardly gang are thugs and murderers who went after a brave and great man,committing one of the most heinous crimes in history in order to silence him. #JamalKhashoggi pic.twitter.com/KNdQJedsE5
— Hatice Cengiz خديجة (@mercan_resifi) December 7, 2022