The Biden administration has determined that Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman has legal immunity in a civil case brought against him over the murder of journalist Jamal Khashoggi, a move likely to reinforce the criticism that President Joe Biden has backed down from his campaign pledge to hold Saudi Arabia's de facto leader accountable. 

At the request of the State Department, Justice Department lawyers on Thursday night submitted a "suggestion of immunity" concluding Prince Mohammed should be immune from the lawsuit because he is considered a sitting head of government. The department’s legal finding comes less than two months after King Salman appointed his 37-year-old son prime minister of Saudi Arabia, in what critics called a “ploy” aimed at shielding Prince Mohammed from prosecution in US courts.

The lawsuit, which was filed in a US district court by Khashoggi’s fiancee Hatice Cengiz and Democracy for the Arab World Now (DAWN), the rights organization the journalist founded before his death, alleges Prince Mohammed and other Saudi officials were responsible for Khashoggi’s October 2018 murder.  

Khashoggi, a former royal insider-turned-critic who wrote for the Washington Post and lived in Virginia, was lured to the Saudi consulate in Istanbul to pick up documentation needed to marry his Turkish fiancee. Once inside, Turkish officials say a 15-member Saudi hit squad killed the 59-year-old journalist and dismembered him using a bone saw. His remains were never recovered.