Array
The Biden administration said that Saudi Arabia’s crown prince should have legal immunity over the 2018 murder of Jamal Khashoggi, despite President Joe Biden’s own pledges to hold him personally to account.
A journalist and critic of the Saudi government, Khashoggi was lured into the Saudi consulate in Istanbul 2018. There, he was murdered and dismembered by agents the CIA says were working on Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman’s direct orders.
Biden pledged on the campaign trail to make the crown prince pay for the killing, and render his nation a «pariah.»
In office, he said he has personally told Crown Prince Mohammed he believes him to be responsible, but has done little to hold him to account as the US seeks to maintain ties with Saudi Arabia, one of the world’s biggest oil producers.
US officials made the argument about the prince’s immunity in court papers filed Thursday, part of a civil lawsuit against Crown Prince Mohammed by Khashoggi’s fiancée, Hatice Cengiz.
