Trump administration considering granting Saudi prince legal immunity for alleged assassination plot, sources say

[laylalex 7,300]

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The Trump administration is considering granting Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman legal immunity from a federal lawsuit alleging that he ordered an assassination squad to kill a former top Saudi intelligence official who shared information with the US, according to sources familiar with the situation.

Saad Aljabri alleges in his lawsuit in DC District Court that the Saudi prince sent members of the same assassination squad that killed journalist Jamal Khashoggi to Canada, where Aljabri now lives in exile, to target him as well.

The State Department sent a series of questions to Aljabri's legal team this month to "help high-level officials" there decide whether to advise the Department of Justice to grant the crown prince immunity, according to the questionnaire, which was provided to CNN for review from a source close to Aljabri.

It is common for the US to grant sovereign immunity for sitting heads of state and even foreign government officials, a step that is often justified as necessary under international law. Immunity is waived from time to time, however, particularly if US policy is to put pressure on a foreign government.

 

https://www.cnn.com/2020/12/22/politics/trump-mbs-legal-immunity/index.html

[Cyberfx1024 7,980]

13 minutes ago, laylalex said:

https://www.cnn.com/2020/12/22/politics/trump-mbs-legal-immunity/index.html

That's funny right there because he technically has diplomatic immunity anyway being the Crown Prince. 

[Prizm123 1,086]

 

[Cyberfx1024 7,980]

33 minutes ago, Prizm123 said:

 

I really don't see that happening to the future ruler of our biggest ally in the Gulf

[laylalex 7,300]

I think if I am reading other sources correctly MBS does NOT necessarily have diplomatic immunity but he could. I'm super out of it and very tired at the moment due to time shifting 8 hours for phone calls so I will just link the article I was reading earlier: https://www.lawfareblog.com/saudi-crown-prince-facing-lawsuits-dc

[Prizm123 1,086]

12 hours ago, Cyberfx1024 said:

I really don't see that happening to the future ruler of our biggest ally in the Gulf

come on now, we just need to send Murtaugh and Riggs.

[Cyberfx1024 7,980]

20 hours ago, laylalex said:

I think if I am reading other sources correctly MBS does NOT necessarily have diplomatic immunity but he could. I'm super out of it and very tired at the moment due to time shifting 8 hours for phone calls so I will just link the article I was reading earlier: https://www.lawfareblog.com/saudi-crown-prince-facing-lawsuits-dc

He is the de facto ruler of the KSA and the power behind the throne. So of course he has immunity

[laylalex 7,300]

3 hours ago, Cyberfx1024 said:

He is the de facto ruler of the KSA and the power behind the throne. So of course he has immunity

Did you read the article? It isn't so clear.

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One type is head-of-state immunity, which attaches only to the individual recognized by the United States as the formal leader of the country. MBS, though he manages many of the sovereign functions of Saudi Arabia, is not the Saudi head of state. The recognized leader of the country is his father, King Salman. Therefore, the crown prince cannot assert head-of-state immunity.

As crown prince, deputy prime minister, and minister of defense of Saudi Arabia, MBS could instead assert foreign official immunity. There are two sorts of foreign official immunity under international law: status-based immunity and conduct-based immunity.

Status-based immunity for foreign officials is a blanket immunity that attaches to the highest sitting officials of a given country, usually the head of state, head of government and foreign minister (“the troika”). (Diplomats, too, have status-based immunity, but they are covered by a separate legal regime.) Status-based immunity applies to both public and private conduct of these officials only while they are in office. After leaving office, however, these officials can be held liable for crimes that were committed outside their official duties. See In re Estate of Marcos and Jimenez v. Aristeguieta. Given his de facto leadership in key areas of Saudi policy and frequent representations of Saudi Arabia abroad, MBS might assert quasi head-of-government status.

MBS also could claim conduct-based immunity, which attaches only to the public acts of foreign officials. Conduct-based immunity for foreign officials applies to officials outside the “troika” and diplomatic corps, and it is certainly possible that it could apply to some of the crown prince’s acts. But acts done for private gain, or outside the scope of the actor’s official duties, are not covered. To assert this type of immunity in these cases, MBS’s attorneys might need to assume, for the sake of argument, that although the crown prince did order actions against the plaintiffs, he gave the orders in his official capacity in the interest of the sovereign and is thus protected from suit. (The crown prince has claimed that he did not order or have prior knowledge of Khashoggi’s killing.)

 

 

[Cyberfx1024 7,980]

8 hours ago, laylalex said:

Did you read the article? It isn't so clear.

 

I don't need to read the article about what he does because follow the region's geopolitical issues pretty closely. MBS is the power behind the throne and the one making the majority of decisions

[laylalex 7,300]

2 hours ago, Cyberfx1024 said:

I don't need to read the article about what he does because follow the region's geopolitical issues pretty closely. MBS is the power behind the throne and the one making the majority of decisions

I don't mean to be a pest, but you really should read the article about the reasons why he may not automatically have immunity. It's quite long but it's interesting. If immunity becomes an issue for MBS and Trump doesn't extend him immunity, basically the article is saying there could be an opening for lawyers to say it doesn't apply here.