Senate Democrat calls on Biden to hold Saudi crown prince ‘accountable’ after immunity decision

Sen. Ron Wyden (D-Ore.) is urging President Biden to hold Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman “accountable” for the murder of journalist Jamal Khashoggi, criticizing the administration’s choice to grant immunity to the royal.

“The State Department’s decision to intervene in this case undermined the ability to hold the Crown Prince accountable for his crime,” Wyden tweeted Monday. “I call on @POTUS Biden to honor his commitment to hold MBS accountable and to reexamine our relationship with the Saudis.”

The Biden administration last week weighed in on a lawsuit filed by Khashoggi’s fiancée Hatice Cengiz in 2020, determining that Crown Prince Mohammed was legally immune from the complaint.

The State Department said the Saudi prince could not be sued in federal court due to his status as sitting head of a foreign national government.

“In making this immunity determination, the Department of State takes no view on the merits of the present suit and reiterates its unequivocal condemnation of the heinous murder of Jamal Khashoggi,” the department wrote in a court filing.

Khashoggi was killed in 2018 inside the Saudi consulate in Istanbul, an incident which the CIA concluded was ordered by the crown prince.

Wyden has previously called on Biden to openly condemn Saudi Arabia’s human rights record, especially leading up to his meeting with the crown prince in July.

The Oregon senator released a statement weeks before the meeting urging Biden “to insist on accountability for those responsible for the brutal murder of Washington Post journalist Jamal Khashoggi and the killing of Portland’s Fallon Smart and other victims of Saudi citizens who have fled U.S. justice.”

Smart, a 15-year-old Oregon native, was fatally hit by a speeding driver in 2016. The driver, a Saudi national, later fled back to his home country with outside assistance just weeks before his trial.

“The United States cannot value Saudi oil more highly than the blood of Fallon Smart and Jamal Khashoggi,” said Wyden earlier this year.