US moves to shield Saudi crown prince in journalist killing

Washington: The Biden administration has declared that Saudi Arabia's crown prince should be considered immune from a lawsuit over his role in the killing of Jamal Khashoggi, a turnaround from Joe Biden's passionate campaign trail denunciations of Prince Mohammed bin Salman over the brutal slaying.

The administration on Thursday said the senior position of the crown prince, Saudi Arabia's de facto ruler and recently named prime minister as well, should shield him against a suit brought by the fiancee of slain Washington Post columnist Khashoggi and by the rights group Khashoggi founded, Democracy for the Arab World Now.

The request is non-binding and a judge will ultimately decide whether to grant immunity. But it is bound to anger human rights activists and many U.S. lawmakers, coming as Saudi Arabia has stepped up imprisonment and other retaliation against peaceful critics at home and abroad and has cut oil production, a move seen as undercutting efforts by the U.S. and its allies to punish Russia for its war against Ukraine.

The State Department has called the administration's call to shield the Saudi crown prince from U.S. courts in Khashoggi's killing "purely a legal determination."

The State Department cited what it said was longstanding precedent. Despite its recommendation to the court, the State Department said in its filing late Thursday, it "takes no view on the merits of the present suit and reiterates its unequivocal condemnation of the heinous murder of Khashoggi."