Judge puts Biden on the spot over immunity for Saudi crown prince

A US judge has asked the Biden administration to weigh in on whether Mohammed bin Salman, the crown prince of Saudi Arabia, should be granted sovereign immunity in a civil case brought against him in the US by Hatice Cengiz, the fiancee of Jamal Khashoggi, the journalist who was killed by Saudi agents in 2018.

John Bates, a district court judge, gave the US government until 1 August to declare its interests in the civil case or give the court notice that it has no view on the matter.

The US president is due to meet the heir apparent to the Saudi throne later this month when he makes his first trip to Riyadh since entering the White House.

Khashoggi, a former Saudi insider who had fled the kingdom and was a resident of Virginia, was a vocal critic of the young crown prince and was actively seeking to counter Saudi online propaganda at the time when he was killed.

After years of inaction against Prince Mohammed by Donald Trump, who was president when Khashoggi was killed, the Biden administration moved to release an unclassified US intelligence report in 2021, shortly after Biden entered the White House, that concluded Prince Mohammed was likely to have ordered the murder of Khashoggi.

While Saudi Arabia said it held a trial against the hit squad responsible for the grisly murder, the proceeding was widely condemned as a sham, and some of the most senior members of the team have been sighted in a state security compound in Riyadh.

The Saudi prince has taken responsibility for the murder on behalf of the Saudi government but has denied any personal involvement in planning the assassination.

Judge Bates said in an order released on Friday that he would hold a hearing on 31 August after motions to dismiss the civil case by Prince Mohammed and others.

Cengiz could not immediately be reached for comment. The Saudi embassy in Washington was not available for comment.