Well that’s one way to get away with murder: become a Head of State.

The US has determined that Saudi Arabia’s de facto leader – Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman – has immunity from a lawsuit filed by murdered journalist Jamal Khashoggi’s fiancé.

…

[I]n court filings, the US State department said he has immunity due to his new role as Saudi prime minister.

So if you’re a murderer the thing to do is get a new role as prime minister.

It was always highly unlikely that the US, as Saudi Arabia’s strategic partner and arms supplier, was ever going to facilitate the arrest of MBS. But granting him immunity in this way will cause some relief in the Saudi royal court and has provoked a storm of protest from human rights groups as well as Mr Khashoggi’s fiancée.

And disgust in anyone paying attention.

Mr Biden declined to talk to Mohammed bin Salman when he first became president.

But over the summer, President Biden said he wanted to “reorient” relations, ahead of a visit to Saudi Arabia in July.

Right, because Saudi Arabia is such an important “ally.”

His visit – in which he was pictured fist-bumping the crown prince – was criticised as validating the Saudi government following Mr Khashoggi’s murder.

Because it did.

Amnesty’s Agnes Callamard wrote on Twitter: “This is a deep betrayal. Another one. First disregarded by Pres. Trump. Then Pres. Biden’s fist bump… At all points, they had other choices.”

And Nihad Awad, national executive director of the Council on American-Islamic Relations, said the Biden administration had “sold Jamal Kashoggi’s blood for Saudi oil”.

Those SUVs don’t run on pixie dust you know.