After Vigorous Efforts, Trump Administration Weighing Legal Immunity for MBS in Assassination Plot

By Staff, The Washington Post

After repeated attempts to mark Saudi Crown Prince Mohammad Bin Salman [MBS] safe from responsibility for plotting to assassinate former top Saudi intelligence officer, the US government is weighing a request to declare MBS immune from a federal lawsuit accusing him of targeting for assassination Saad Aljabri, who could disclose damaging secrets about the prince’s ascent to power, according to legal documents related to the case.

The Saudi government has asked that MBS be shielded from liability in response to a complaint brought by Aljabri, a former Saudi counterterrorism leader and longtime US intelligence ally now living in exile in Canada.

A State Department recommendation could also lead to the dismissal of MBS as a defendant in other cases recently filed in the United States, including ones accusing him of directing the death and dismemberment of dissident journalist Jamal Khashoggi in 2018; and of targeting a hack and leak operation to discredit an Al Jazeera news anchor, Ghada Oueiss, in retaliation for her critical reports on MBS and the crown prince of the United Arab Emirates, Mohammad Bin Zayed [MBZ].

The State Department sent a questionnaire last month to Aljabri’s lawyers, soliciting their legal views on whether it should grant the Saudi request, according to a person close to the family who spoke on the condition of anonymity to discuss the pending litigation and the document, which The Post reviewed.

At the time Aljabri filed his complaint, the State Department called him “a valued partner” to the US government and said it would work with the White House to resolve the situation “in a manner that honors Dr. Aljabri’s service to our country,” according to a letter responding to US senators who had written on his behalf.

“Any persecution of Dr. Aljabri’s family members is unacceptable,” acting assistant secretary Ryan Kaldahl wrote.

In a statement, Aljabri’s eldest son, Khalid, a family spokesman, said US support for the Saudi claim would greenlight further assassination plots.

“If granted, the US would essentially be granting MBS immunity for conduct that succeeded in killing Jamal Khashoggi and failed to kill my dad,” said Khalid Aljabri, a cardiologist in Toronto. He added, “Lack of accountability is one thing, but allowing impunity through immunity is like issuing a license to kill.”

The deliberation comes after lawyers for MBS and co-defendants earlier this month asked a federal judge to dismiss Aljabri’s lawsuit, accusing him, his children and his associates of misspending or stealing a “staggering” $11 billion allocated by the Saudi government to a counterterrorism fund under his management between 2001 and 2015.