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According to the US government, Saudi Arabian Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman cannot be prosecuted in the United States for possible involvement in the murder of journalist Jamal Khashoggi as long as he is prime minister of his country.

As head of government of Saudi Arabia, he enjoys immunity from prosecution in the United States, according to a US Justice Department court document released Thursday evening (local time). A Washington court had asked the ministry for an assessment of Mohammed bin Salman’s immunity status.

Following the assassination of Saudi government critic and journalist Jamal Khashoggi four years ago, his fiancé Hatice Cengiz has filed a lawsuit in the United States against the crown prince and others she says were involved in the murder of the reporter, who is under more , was a columnist for the renowned American newspaper “Washington Post”. In the legal dispute, Mohammed bin Salman’s lawyers finally argued in early October that the appointment as prime minister at the end of September guaranteed the crown prince’s immunity. The court must therefore reject the claim.

The US Justice Department has now emphasized that the US government has expressed deep concern to Saudi leaders over the “horrible murder” of Khashoggi and has also imposed sanctions. However, the doctrine of the immunity of the head of state is firmly enshrined in law, regardless of the subject of any particular legal dispute.

US intelligence has accused Mohammed bin Salman of being responsible for the assassination of Khashoggi at the Saudi consulate in Istanbul by an assassination squad in 2018. The crown prince denies being the mastermind behind the action. The assassination had led to the international isolation of the heir to the throne and plunged many Western countries’ relations with Saudi Arabia into years of crisis, including relations with the US. However, the sanctions imposed on Saudi Arabia by the administration of US President Joe Biden spared Mohammed bin Salman.

Khashoggi’s fiancee Cengiz accused Biden on Twitter of saving the “murderer” and “criminal” by granting him immunity, implicating himself in the crime. (sda/dpa)