Is the Saudi prince Immune from Lawsuits? US district court asks govt

The fiancee of journalist Jamal Khashoggi, who was killed in Saudi in 2018, Hatice Cengiz, has filed a civil complaint against Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman in the United States. The Biden administration has until August 1 to respond to the petition.
US district court judge John Bates said in an order on Friday that the US government can respond to the case among other things, “regarding the applicability of head-of-state immunity in this case.” If the government fails to respond, Mohammad and other defendants have until August 16 to respond.
Mohammed bin Salman and twenty co-defendants were named in a lawsuit brought in 2020 by Cengiz and Democracy for the Arab World Now (DAWN), an organisation dedicated to human rights that Khashoggi created before his murder.
According to the lawsuit, Khashoggi was tortured, killed, and dismembered on orders from the crown prince, also known by the initials MBS.
Also Read Washington: Saudi Embassy street renamed Jamal Khashoggi Way Motions to dismiss Cengiz’s complaint have been filed by the crown prince and two of the co-defendants, who argue that the court lacks both subject matter and personal jurisdiction. Saudi officials have attributed Khashoggi’s death to “rogue agents.” However, the crown prince has already denied ordering the journalist’s murder.
In 2018, the CIA came to the contrary conclusion to Saudi Arabia’s assertion that the crown prince was unaware of the plot and had not given the go-ahead to kill Khashoggi.