A former top legal advisor to Secretary of State Antony Blinken is criticizing the State Department's controversial move to recommend Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, otherwise known as MBS, be granted 'head of state' immunity to shield him from a lawsuit for his role in the brutal 2018 assassination and dismemberment of journalist Jamal Khashoggi.
Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman arrives to attend the"APEC Leaders' Informal Dialogue with Guests" event during the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation summit in Bangkok on November 18, 2022.
“It seems strange,” Koh said about the court filing made Thursday night by current State Department acting legal advisor Richard C. Visek. “It was better not to say anything. You want the Saudis to think that Biden’s words about human rights mean what they say.” The filing came in a lawsuit filed in U.S. district court in Washington, D.C., by Khashoggi’s fiancé, Hatice Cengiz and DAWN, the human rights group founded by Khashoggi. Citing two federal statutes that permit victims of gross human rights abuses to sue the perpetrators in U.S. courts, the suit accused MBS of ordering the grisly murder of Khashoggi and the carving up of his body with a bone saw inside the Saudi consulate in Istanbul, Turkey.
“The State Department recognizes and allows the immunity of Prime Minister Mohammed bin Salman as a sitting head of government of a foreign state,” the letter signed by acting legal advisor Visek stated.
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