The United States has acquitted the Crown Prince of Saudi Arabia in the case of the murder of journalist Jamal Khashoggi
Washington Post journalist Jamal Khashoggi was murdered in the Saudi consulate in Istanbul in October 2018. The United States intelligence said that Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman is involved in this murder. They suspect that Jamal Khashoggi was killed on the orders of the Saudi prince.
Today, the US State Department said that because Mohammed bin Salman is the prime minister of Saudi Arabia, he has also been given immunity ‘applicable as the chief executive of the state’, following international legal norms. In this case, the basis of the case was not taken into consideration.
After this news was published, Khashoggi’s ex-fiancee Hatis Chengis wrote in a Twitter post, “As a result of this verdict, Jamal died again today.” Hatis Genghis had earlier demanded compensation from the Saudi crown prince for killing Jamal Khashoggi.
37 years old Mohammed bin Salman took over as the prime minister of Saudi Arabia in September this year. He has always denied any involvement in Jamal Khashoggi’s murder.
Lawyers for the US Department of Justice said, “As the head of a foreign government, the crown prince will enjoy immunity from the jurisdiction of US courts.” The doctrine of impunity of the head of state is well established in international law.
But the Biden administration said the verdict does not prove the Saudi prince’s innocence. A spokesman for the White House’s National Security Council said in a written statement that the State Department made the decision “under well-established principles of customary international law.”
The news agency Reuters wrote that journalist Jamal Khagosi was a strong critic of the ruling group of Saudi Arabia. He used to write a column about it in the American media Washington Post. In 2018, Jamal went to the Saudi embassy to get papers to marry fiancee Hatis Genghis. After that he never came out of there.
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