The appointment by royal decree comes ahead of a deadline for US President Joe Biden’s administration to weigh in on whether Prince Mohammed qualifies for immunity from lawsuits filed in American courts.
The 37-year-old de facto ruler of the world’s biggest crude exporter has been targeted in multiple such lawsuits in recent years, notably over the 2018 killing of Saudi journalist Jamal Khashoggi in the kingdom’s Istanbul consulate, which temporarily turned him into a pariah in the West.
His lawyers have argued in filings that he “sits at the apex of Saudi Arabia’s government” and thus qualifies for legal immunity.
Human rights activists and government critics immediately speculated that making Prince Mohammed prime minister was a bald-faced attempt to strengthen the immunity claim and skirt legal exposure.
This story is from the October 02, 2022 edition of The Straits Times.
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This story is from the October 02, 2022 edition of The Straits Times.
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