Pak Sahafat – At the same time as the anniversary of the murder of journalist Jamal Khashoggi, a critics of Al-Saud, in 2018 in the Saudi consulate in Istanbul, the AFP said in a report: Critics worry that Saudi Crown Prince Bin Salman’s new title as prime minister will give him legal immunity from lawsuits filed in foreign courts.
According to Pak Sahafat News Agency’s Sunday report, this media added: Critics fear that the title of prime minister is more important outside of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia than inside the country, where Bin Salman already has a lot of power.
The royal decree appointing Bin Salman as Prime Minister has been issued on the eve of the decision of the US President Joe Biden’s administration. Biden must decide whether the crown prince of Saudi Arabia is eligible for immunity from lawsuits filed in American courts or not.
The 37-year-old potential ruler of Saudi Arabia, as the largest exporter of crude oil, has been the target of several such complaints in recent years, the first of which is the complaint related to Jamal Khashoggi, a critical Arab journalist, who was murdered in the Saudi consulate in Istanbul in 2018. This assassination turned Bin Salman into a hated figure in the West.
Bin Salman’s lawyers argue that he is at the head of the Saudi government and therefore qualifies for legal immunity.
Human rights activists and critics of the Saudi government speculate immediately after this argument that giving bin Salman the title of prime minister is an attempt to strengthen his claim of legal immunity and close legal cases against him.
Sara Lee Whiteson, executive director of the non-governmental organization “Democracy Now for the Arab World” (DAWN), founded by Jamal Khashoggi, told AFP: “This is the latest attempt to create a new title, in other words, a “title laundering trick”.
Agence France-Presse wrote: The Saudi authorities have not responded to this media’s questions to comment on this action.
Last year, Biden declassified an intelligence report that showed the assassination was approved by bin Salman; An issue that the Saudi authorities deny.
Bin Salman’s name can be seen in the file prepared by “Saad Al-Jabri”, one of the former senior intelligence officials of Saudi Arabia. The former intelligence official became a hated figure after Mohammed bin Salman became first in line to the throne in 2017.
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In this complaint case, Bin Salman is accused of trying to return Al-Jaberi from exile in Canada to Saudi Arabia, and when his efforts were fruitless, he deployed his “hit squad” to kill him on Canadian soil; A plot that was thwarted after the attackers returned to the Canadian border.
Another case is related to the accusation of Bin Salman by Ghada Oueiss, a Lebanese journalist. In this complaint, Bin Salman is accused of being involved in a plan to hack the journalist’s cell phone and publish stolen personal images in order to defame him and prevent him from reporting on human rights issues.
The issue of Bin Salman’s judicial immunity reached its peak this summer. A US judge has given the Biden administration until August 1 to express its opinion on whether it believes bin Salman qualifies for legal immunity.
During his trip to Saudi Arabia last July, Biden distanced himself from his previous promise to hate Saudi Arabia and asked the court for another 60 days to make a decision in this regard. This deadline ends on Monday of this week.
According to Omar Karim, an expert on Saudi issues at the University of Birmingham, it is unlikely that much will change in Saudi Arabia due to the new title of Prime Minister.
He said: “Mohammed bin Salman is completely under control and there was no threat to him that could be dealt with by becoming the prime minister.”
At the same time, given that King Salman remains at the head of government, it is unclear whether becoming prime minister would significantly strengthen Bin Salman’s claim to immunity.
Agence France-Presse wrote: Even if the issue of immunity is resolved in the United States, it will probably still be raised in other countries.
Last July, a non-governmental group filed a lawsuit in France accusing the Saudi crown prince of complicity in the torture and eventual forced disappearance of Khashoggi.
According to them, these accusations can be pursued in France, which recognizes the international court.
This group has said that the Crown Prince of Saudi Arabia lacks immunity from prosecution because, as the Crown Prince, he is not the head of state.