The decision of a federal court in the American capital, Washington, to summon Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman and a number of his senior aides in the case of the attempted assassination of former Saudi intelligence man Saad al-Jabri, to shed light on the legal and political dimensions of the overlapping case.
The summonses that Al-Jazeera viewed demanded from the defendants to respond in writing to the complaints against them, either personally or through their legal representatives, and in the event that the response is ignored, the court has the right to pass a judgment on them in absentia.
The presence of two of those included in the summons requests in the United States doubled the complexity of looking into the case from its legal side, and according to the case papers, the defendant Yusef Al-Rajhi resides in Virginia, and the defendant Laila Abu Al-Jadayel resides in the state of Massachusetts.
The presence of the name of Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman in official summons issued by a federal court, in addition to the similarity of details of the allegations against him and his aides, to what happened in the case of the killing of the Saudi journalist Jamal Khashoggi, to increase media interest in the case.
The issue is in its political dimension
Special relations link President Donald Trump and Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, and some reports have linked the importance of this lawsuit to the public and the accompanying media coverage and the court’s decision to direct summonses to the defendants, and the burden of these relations on Trump less than 3 months before the presidential elections.
According to Dana Stroll, a former congressional official and now a researcher at the Washington Center for Near East Policy, there is a question that is constantly being asked in Washington regarding Saudi Arabia, and it has not been addressed by Washington circles throughout the history of relations extending since World War II, which is whether Saudi Arabia is a stabilizing factor in the Middle East or is it an element of tension ?
And according to a study by Strol, Washington circles now know an unprecedented language towards Saudi Arabia that is not used with friends or allies.
This is clearly evident in the handling of members of Congress and the American media about issues related to human rights violations against Saudi political activists, the record of war crimes in Yemen, the refusal of Congress to export weapons to Riyadh, the consequences of the Khashoggi murder case, and the negative view of Saudi Arabia's nuclear ambitions.
With the presidential elections approaching, some discuss the impact of the arrival of Democratic candidate Joe Biden on the future of Mohammed bin Salman's relationship with the White House.
Joe Biden has on several occasions attacked President Trump's cordial and supportive record of autocrats around the world.
The Democratic presidential candidate, in an interview with CBS, also strongly criticized Trump's unlimited support for the Saudi crown prince, and Biden indicated that Trump finds justifications for the Saudi crown prince away from the facts, and this harms the United States and its international reputation.
Legal arguments
As for the case in its judicial and legal framework, Ferry Bruce Fine, a former assistant to the US Deputy Secretary of Justice and legal expert, told Al Jazeera Net that if the case progressed, Al-Jabri would be allowed to request testimony under oath for the two defendants residing in the United States, and to invite them as witnesses for the trial.
Fine asserted that the case is legally justified under the Torture Victims Protection Act, which creates grounds for a case to be heard in US courts against anyone at risk of extrajudicial killing anywhere in the world, including Canada.
For her part, Professor of Law at Hasting College at the University of California, Shamen Kittner, pointed out to Mr. Saad Al-Jabri's goals to proceed with the case. As for American courts, it can serve to file a legal complaint in a serious manner with the aim of drawing attention to the plaintiff's alleged violations by the defendants in a way that puts his concerns and fears before Public opinion and official legal records.
Kittner believes that given the US experience and its negative reaction to the killing of journalist Jamal Khashoggi, it is not surprising that we see individuals who feel they have been targeted by the Saudi regime trying to seek redress in US courts.
In her interview with Al-Jazeera Net, she said that if the case papers are presented in a strong and correct manner, "I expect the defendants to raise a number of objections to this lawsuit that the court will have to resolve and decide before moving forward."
Thorny issue
Kittner indicated that the court rulings will be subject to these objections, which will be raised in the request to refuse to consider the case for appeal by the complainant, and therefore there can be a large-scale lawsuit in time even if the court has never reached the merits to consider the case, and ended in its opinion. To the possibility of not continuing the case at a later stage.
In the context, a legal expert spoke with Al-Jazeera Net about the arguments of the legal case, and the expert - who asked not to be named due to the nature of her work - said that the case is thorny in nature, as the plaintiff is not an American, and the defendants are a large number and they are not Americans, and they do not reside in the United States. Only two people.
The expert added that she cannot summon legal precedents that would push the court to continue hearing this case.