The administration said the senior position of the crown prince, Saudi Arabia's de facto ruler and recently named prime minister as well, should shield him against a suit brought by the fiancée of slain Washington Post columnist Jamal Khashoggi and by the rights group Khashoggi founded, Democracy for the Arab World Now.

The request is non-binding and a judge will ultimately decide whether to grant immunity. But it is bound to anger human rights activists and many U.S. lawmakers, coming as Saudi Arabia has stepped up imprisonment and other retaliation against peaceful critics at home and abroad and has cut oil production, a move seen as undercutting efforts by the U.S. and its allies to punish Russia for its war against Ukraine.

The State Department on Thursday called the administration's call to shield the Saudi crown prince from U.S. courts in Khashoggi's killing “purely a legal determination."

The State Department cited what it said was longstanding precedent. Despite its recommendation to the court, the State Department said in its filing late Thursday, it “takes no view on the merits of the present suit and reiterates its unequivocal condemnation of the heinous murder of Jamal Khashoggi."

Saudi officials killed Khashoggi at the Saudi consulate in Istanbul. They are believed to have dismembered him, although his remains have never been found. The U.S. intelligence community concluded Saudi Arabia’s crown prince had approved the killing of the widely known and respected journalist, who had written critically of Prince Mohammed’s harsh ways of silencing of those he considered rivals or critics.

The Biden administration statement Thursday noted visa restrictions and other penalties that it had meted out to lower-ranking Saudi officials in the death.

“From the earliest days of this Administration, the United States Government has expressed its grave concerns regarding Saudi agents’ responsibility for Jamal Khashoggi’s murder,” the State Department said. Its statement did not mention the crown prince's own alleged role.

Biden as a candidate vowed to make a “pariah” out of Saudi rulers over the 2018 killing of Khashoggi.

“I think it was a flat-out murder,” Biden said in a 2019 CNN town hall, as a candidate. “And I think we should have nailed it as that. I publicly said at the time we should treat it that way and there should be consequences relating to how we deal with those — that power.”

But Biden as president has sought to ease tensions with the kingdom, including bumping fists with Prince Mohammed on a July trip to the kingdom, as the U.S. works to persuade Saudi Arabia to undo a series of cuts in oil production.

Khashoggi's fiancee, Hatice Cengiz, and DAWN sued the crown prince, his top aides and others in Washington federal court over their alleged roles in Khashoggi's killing. Saudi Arabia says the prince had no direct role in the slaying.

“It’s beyond ironic that President Biden has singlehandedly assured MBS can escape accountability when it was President Biden who promised the American people he would do everything to hold him accountable," the head of DAWN, Sarah Leah Whitson, said in a statement, using the prince's acronym.

Biden in February 2021 had ruled out the U.S. government imposing punishment on Prince Mohammed himself in the killing of Khashoggi, a resident of the Washington area. Biden, speaking after he authorized release of a declassified version of the intelligence community's findings on Prince Mohammed's role in the killing, argued at the time there was no precedent for the U.S. to move against the leader of a strategic partner.

The U.S. military long has safeguarded Saudi Arabia from external enemies, in exchange for Saudi Arabia keeping global oil markets afloat.

“It’s impossible to read the Biden administration’s move today as anything more than a capitulation to Saudi pressure tactics, including slashing oil output to twist our arms to recognize MBS’s fake immunity ploy,” Whitson said.

A federal judge in Washington had given the U.S. government until midnight Thursday to express an opinion on the claim by the crown prince's lawyers that Prince Mohammed's high official standing renders him legally immune in the case.

The Biden administration also had the option of not stating an opinion either way.

Sovereign immunity, a concept rooted in international law, holds that states and their officials are protected from some legal proceedings in other foreign states’ domestic courts.

Upholding the concept of “sovereign immunity” helps ensure that American leaders in turn don’t have to worry about being hauled into foreign courts to face lawsuits in other countries, the State Department said.

Human rights advocates had argued that the Biden administration would embolden Prince Mohammed and other authoritarian leaders around the world in more rights abuses if it supported the crown prince's claim that his high office shielded him from prosecution.

Prince Mohammed serves as Saudi Arabia's de facto ruler in the stead of his aged father, King Salman. The Saudi king in September also temporarily transferred his title of prime minister — a title normally held by the Saudi monarch — to Prince Mohammed. Critics called it a bid to strengthen Mohammed’s immunity claim.

Our opinion: Good and important move!

We  never had anything against Jamal Khashoggi, and were saddened and shocked by his terrible death.

However, as nothing can bring him back to life anyway, we should care about the lives of the rest of the world. 8 billion people now, more then ever, need peace, food, energy.

Justice? Hmmm….  other than double standards, there is no reason in the campaign against Prince Mohammed bin Salman for killing an innocent man, to ignore the same standard for Western leaders who were responsible for murdering thousands of innocent people in Iraq, Afghanistan, Libya, Yugoslavia, Vietnam, etc., etc., etc..

There should either be Justice for All, or there should be Justice for None. Double standards are not the way to get Justice. They are simply the way to add new injustices.

It’s time to move on. The world can only lose by looking backwards instead of forwards.

The good that Prince Mohammed bin Salman is doing for Saudi Arabia’s people, for its women, for modern Islam, and for the Arab world - as well as for the rest of the world - is far more important, valuable and critical, than screaming “Justice” for one but ignoring "Justice for all".

Prince Mohammed bin Salman is -along side China’s President- the most important guest at the APEC Summit in Amazing Thailand. He is meeting Thailand’s prime minister  Prayut Chan-o-cha, and many other world leaders, in order to boost the economy and interests of his country, of Thailand, and of the other Asia-Pacific countries. With due respect to the late Jamal Khashoggi, the world can only benefit from having good, productive and constructive relationships with Saudi Arabia, now that it is being led by the brilliant, brave, and forward-thinking Prince. In support of his visionary goals, Prince MBS  has assembled an equally innovative and brilliant team of ministers.  At APEC, they should be warmly welcomed and rightly applauded.

Jamal Khashoggi’s killing was without doubt a bad mistake: a horrible crime and a personal tragedy. But a much smaller mistake compared to  the colossal blunders, mass war crimes and national tragedies in  Afghanistan, Iraq, Libya, Yugoslavia, and Vietnam. 

It’s time to move forward, focusing on the best we can do for the future of our world instead of being dragged down by the past, when we cannot change it anyway. And a very good place to start the process would be in Amazing Thailand.

Sawat Dee Krub! Salaam! Peace!