Why Saudi Arabia named de factor ruler Mohammed Bin Salman its Prime Minister

Saudi Arabia's King Mohammad Salman bin Abdulaziz named his son and Saudi's de facto ruler Prince Mohammed bin Salman the kingdom's Prime Minister, the royal decree from Saudi Arabia said on Tuesday, September 27. The King also named his second son, Prince Khalid, the Defence Minister. 

The reshuffle in the Cabinet also led to another of his sons, Prince Abdulaziz bin Salman, as the Energy Minister.

Why? The question now is why the King named his son Mohammad Bin Salman (MBS) the Prime Minister when he was already the de facto ruler, and that his elevation to this post would hardly change the power balance in the country.

The answer to this question lies in the case of killing of former Saudi dissenter Jamal Khashoggi. Khashoggi was killed inside the Saudi consulate in Istanbul, Turkey, in 2018. It was alleged that MBS had a crucial role to play in the killing of Khashoggi. 

Saudi critics say that the timing of naming MBS as the Prime Minister of Saudi Arabia is to be noted. It comes right before a hearing in a US court, in a case 2020 filed by Khashoggi's fiancee Hatice Cengiz. A district court judge had asked the Joe Biden administration to give its verdict on whether MBS ought to be protected by a sovereign immunity. Sovereign immunity is only granted to a world leader such as a King or a Prime Minister, and thereby, MBS was made the PM before the next hearing.

The court had asked for the Biden government's reply in July 2022, but the response was delayed. A district court judge, John Bates, finally set October 3 as the deadline of hearing in the case. 

"It seems like (Prince Mohammad) has been advised to take this step before the response of Biden administration was due on October 3," said Abdullah Alaoudh, the Gulf director at Dawn, a pro-democracy group based in Washington, The Guardian reported. Alaoudh is also a party in the Khashoggi lawsuit, and also said that MBS becoming Prime Minister 'practically' makes no difference [otherwise].

Prince Mohammed has, however, denied any involvement in the murder of Khashoggi in 2018.

A US intelligence report released by the Biden government in 2021 indicated that the future Saudi king was very likely to have ordered the killing.

The decision to make Prince Salman the Prime Minister would also prevent him from getting arrested or face any challenges while travelling abroad.

What was the civil suit: The civil suit was filed by Khashoggi's fiancee Hatice Cengiz in the federal court of Washington DC in October 2020. She alleged that Prince Salman and other Saudi officials acted in conspiracy when Saudi agents kidnapped, drugged, tortured and killed Khashoggi inside the Saudi consulate in Istanbul in 2018.

Khashoggi was a former Saudi insider who had turned against the rulers and had been living in exile in Virginia, US. He was a strong critic of the Crown Prince Mohammad Bin Salman and was seeking to counter online propaganda at the time when he was killed.

Joe Biden, in the run-up to the 2020 US Presidential elections, had said that he would charge the Saudi Crown Prince with the killing of Khashoggi, but in the recent months, his stance against MBS has softened, given that oil prices have soared.

Khashoggi's fiancee Hatice Cengiz speaks: In a statement to The Guardian, Cengiz wrote, "The fight for justice must succeed - it will not be stopped because MBS bestows another title on himself."