Tag: Khashoggi

  • Saudi prince has immunity in Khashoggi murder lawsuit: Biden administration

    Saudi prince has immunity in Khashoggi murder lawsuit: Biden administration

    The Biden administration has said that Saudi Arabian Crown Prince, Mohammed bin Salman, has immunity from a lawsuit over the murder of journalist Jamal Khashoggi — a Saudi-born US resident who wrote critical articles about Saudi rulers in The Washington Post.

    A spokesperson for the White House National Security Council said, “This is a legal determination made by the State Department under longstanding and well-established principles of customary international law. It has nothing to do with the merits of the case.”

    Moreover, the Justice Department of the country had “determined that defendant bin Salman, as the sitting head of a foreign government, enjoys head of state immunity from the jurisdiction of U.S. courts as a result of that office.”

    After the news, Khashoggi’s ex-fiancée Hatice Cengiz tweeted: “Jamal died again today”.

    Earlier, lawyers for the prince asked in a petition requesting a federal district court in Washington to dismiss the case, citing other cases where the United States has recognised immunity for a foreign head of state

    In 2018, Khashoggi was killed by Saudi agents in the Saudi consulate in Istanbul, an operation that US intelligence believed was allegedly ordered by the crown prince who has repeatedly denied involvement in the past.

    When the incumbent US President Joe Biden took charge of the presidency, his administration made clear the president would avoid direct engagement with the crown prince and instead focus on his engagements with King Salman.

  • Turkey gears up for handing over Khashoggi trial to Saudis

    Turkey gears up for handing over Khashoggi trial to Saudis

    Turkey on Thursday held the final stage of the trial in absentia of 26 suspects linked to the killing of Saudi critic Jamal Khashoggi before transferring the case to Riyadh, a decision that has angered rights groups.

    The 59-year-old journalist was killed inside the Saudi consulate in Istanbul on October 2, 2018 in a gruesome murder that shocked the world.

    A Turkish court began the trial in 2020 with relations tense between the two Sunni Muslim regional powers.

    But with Turkey desperate for investment to help pull it out of economic crisis, Ankara has sought to heal the rift with Riyadh.

    Justice Minister Bekir Bozdag said last week that he would greenlight a Turkish prosecutor’s request to hand the case over to Saudi Arabia.

    The prosecutor said the case was “dragging” because the court’s orders could not be carried since the defendants were foreigners.

    But Human Rights Watch slammed Ankara, saying the decision will “end any possibility of justice”.

    Getting ‘away with murder’

    Transferring the trial would also “reinforce Saudi authorities’ apparent belief that they can get away with murder,” said Michael Page, the group’s deputy Middle East director.

    Amnesty International, whose head Agnes Callamard had investigated the murder in 2019 when she was a UN special rapporteur, also strongly rebuked the Turkish government.

    “Turkey will be knowingly and willingly sending the case back into hands of those who bear responsibility,” she said.

    Boycott

    To Riyadh’s dismay, Turkey pressed ahead with the Khashoggi case and President Recep Tayyip Erdogan had at the time said the order to kill him came from the “highest levels” of government.

    In the years that followed, Saudi Arabia sought to unofficially put pressure on Turkey’s economy, with a boycott on Turkish imports.

    Last year, Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu visited Riyadh to mend fences with the kingdom.

    The transfer of the case to Riyadh would remove the last obstacle to normalising ties.

    But Khashoggi’s Turkish fiancee Hatice Cengiz urged Ankara to insist on justice despite rapprochement with Saudi in an interview with AFP in February.

    “In order for such a thing to not happen again…(Turkey) should not abandon this case,” said Cengiz.

    She was left waiting outside the consulate for Khashoggi when he was murdered. He had gone there to obtain paperwork to marry her. His remains have never been found.

    Erdogan has sought to improve ties with regional rivals including Egypt and the United Arab Emirates in the face of increasing diplomatic isolation that has caused foreign investment to dry up — particularly from the West