“Jamal died again today,” Khashoggi’s ex-fiancée,Hatice Cengiz,said on Twitter minutes after the news became public. She added later:“We thought maybe there would be a light to justice from #USA But again,money came first. This is a world that Jamal doesn’t know about and me ..!”
A spokesperson for the Saudi consulate in Washington could not be reached for comment after business hours.
“This is a legal determination made by the State Department under longstanding and well-established principles of customary international law,” a spokesperson for the White House National Security Council said in a written statement. “It has nothing to do with the merits of the case.”
The spokesperson referred further questions to the State and Justice departments.
In a document filed in US District Court for the District of Columbia,Justice Department attorneys wrote that “the doctrine of head of state immunity is well established in customary international law”.
Justice Department lawyers said the executive branch of the US government,referring to the Biden administration,had “determined that defendant bin Salman,as the sitting head of a foreign government,enjoys head of state immunity from the jurisdiction of US courts as a result of that office”.