Saudi Arabia’s powerful Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman has been appointed prime minister by royal decree in a move that could help him avoid a civil case in the US over the death of a critic.
King Salman’s heir already wields wide powers and is seen as the kingdom’s day-to-day leader.
The 37-year-old crown prince, widely known as MBS, has taken the lead on Vision 2030, the kingdom’s plan to transform its economy and end its dependency on oil.
He has also been blamed for the killing of the Saudi critic Jamal Khashoggi, who disappeared after going in to the Saudi consulate in Istanbul in October 2018.
US intelligence said that the crown prince probably approved the killing. In 2019 he took “full responsibility” because it happened on his watch, but denied ordering it.
In October 2020 Mr Khashoggi’s fiancée, Hatice Cengiz, brought a civil complaint against the prince in Washington.
She accused him and other Saudi agents of being involved in a “conspiracy and with premeditation” to kidnap, drug and kill the journalist.
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Mr Khashoggi worked for The Washington Post and had been living in Virginia before he was murdered.
In August the US administration was given a deadline extension to 3 October to decide whether MBS should be granted sovereign immunity in the case. This protection is typically awarded to world leaders such as kings or prime ministers.
Some Saudi critics have said he was advised to accept the appointment before the deadline. Saudi officials have said Mr Khashoggi’s killing was the work of rogue Saudi security and intelligence officials.
Courts claim to have jailed eight Saudi citizens over the killing but have not named them.
President Joe Biden once vowed to make Saudi Arabia a “pariah” over the killing, but he visited the kingdom and met the Crown Prince earlier this year, acknowledging the importance of relations with the world’s largest oil exporter.
