US President Joe Biden's administration on Thursday said that Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman's high office should protect him from lawsuits for his role in the killing of US-based journalist Jamal Khashoggi in a Saudi consulate Turkey. 

The position marked a stark change of tone from Biden's criticism of the de facto Saudi leader and the killing before taking office. At one point after the 2018 killing he had said he would make the Gulf state's leader a "pariah." 

The US Department of Justice and US State Department said that the prince's official standing should give him immunity in the lawsuit filed by Hatice Cengiz, the fiancee of the slain Washington Post columnist, and by the rights group he founded, Democracy for the Arab World Now (DAWN). 

The lawsuit targets MBS, his top aides and others for their alleged roles in the killing. Saudi Arabia says the prince had no direct role in it. 

The US government request is not binding, however. Ultimately the decision on whether the crown prince, more commonly known by the moniker MBS, can be prosecuted will rest with a judge. Were a judge to seek prosecution, the chances of securing extradition would also seem extremely slim.

US Departments say decision is purely legal one

The US State Department on Thursday called the administration's decision "purely a legal determination." It said it was based on longstanding precedent. The State Department said in its filing that it "takes no view on the merits of the present suit and reiterates its unequivocal condemnation of the heinous murder of Jamal Khashoggi." 

The State Department said that the concept of sovereign immunity, under which heads of state cannot generally be tried in another country's courts, also helped ensure US leaders did not have to worry about being pulled into courts abroad. 

In a document filed in a District of Columbia court, Justice Department attorneys wrote that "the doctrine of head of state immunity is well established in customary international law." 

Justice Department lawyers said that the executive branch of the US government, referring to the Biden administration, had "determined that defendant bin Salman, as the sitting head of state of a foreign government, enjoys head of state immunity from the jurisdiction of US courts as a result of that office." 

A federal judge had given the Biden administration until Thursday to state its view on whether MBS should be immune. The government could have elected not to issue any opinion on the matter.

Heir, head of government, de facto head of state

Bin Salman is crown prince and prime minister of Saudi Arabia; he has also been considered de facto ruler for several years now with his father King Salman in declining health. 

The title of prime minister was only transferred to MBS this September; critics alleged it was a bid to strengthen his case for immunity from prosecution or extradition.

Saudi officials killed Khashoggi at the Saudi consulate in Istanbul in 2018. They are believed to have dismembered him, but his remains were never found.

The US intelligence community concluded that Saudi Arabia's crown prince had approved the killing of the widely known journalist, who had written critically of Prince Mohammed's handling of those he considered rivals or critics. 

From tough talk back towards business as usual

While still a candidate for president, Biden had called for a tough line. 

"I think it was a flat-out murder," Biden said in a 2019 CNN town hall, as a candidate. "And I think we should have nailed it as that. I publicly said at the time we should treat it that way and there should be consequences relating to how we deal with those — that power." 

However, ties to the core US ally in the Gulf have been largely unchanged since Biden took office. 

Biden visited Saudi Arabia in July, trying to convince the major oil producer to increase output to ease global pressure on fuel prices caused in part by Russia's invasion of Ukraine. These efforts did not yield the results the US had hoped for but Washington continues to lobby to reverse recent cuts in oil production by OPEC.

Democracy for the Arab World Now (DAWN) — a non-profit Khashoggi founded shortly before his death which then lay dormant, only for his supporters to launch it in 2020 — was highly critical of Biden following the news. 

"It's beyond ironic that President Biden has singlehandedly assured MBS can escape accountability when it was President Biden who promised the American people he would do everything to hold him accountable. Not even the Trump administration did this," the head of DAWN, Sarah Leah Whitson, said in a statement. 

"It's impossible to read the Biden administration's move today as anything more than a capitulation to Saudi pressure tactics, including slashing oil output to twist our arms to recognize MBS's fake immunity ploy," Whitson said. 

msh/jcg (AP, Reuters)