Saudi prince has immunity in Khashoggi killing lawsuit, say lawyers

https://news.yahoo.com/saudi-prince-immunity-khashoggi-killing-181437146.html

(Reuters) -Lawyers for Saudi Arabian Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, facing a U.S. lawsuit over the 2018 killing of Saudi journalist Jamal Khashoggi, told a court on Monday the crown prince's appointment as prime minister last week ensured him immunity from prosecution.

Khashoggi was killed and dismembered by Saudi agents in the Saudi consulate in Istanbul in an operation which U.S. intelligence believed was ordered by Prince Mohammed, who has been the kingdom's de facto ruler for several years.

The prince denied ordering Khashoggi's killing, but acknowledged later it took place "under my watch."

Khashoggi, who had criticized the crown prince's policies in Washington Post columns, had traveled to the Saudi consulate in Istanbul to obtain papers he needed to marry Hatice Cengiz, a Turkish citizen.

The lawsuit was filed jointly by Cengiz and a human rights group founded by Khashoggi, and sought unspecified damages against the crown prince, known in the West as MbS. It also named more than 20 other Saudis as co-defendants.

It charged that MbS, his co-defendants and others carried out a plot to "permanently silence Mr. Khashoggi" after discovering he planned to use the group as "a platform to espouse democratic reform and promote human rights."

The court had asked the U.S. Department of Justice to express a view on whether Prince Mohammed had immunity, setting an Oct. 3 deadline for a response.

(Continued)

In El Salvador, army surrounds town to root out gang

https://news.yahoo.com/el-salvador-army-surrounds-town-220758176.html

SAN SALVADOR, El Salvador (AP) — More than 2,000 soldiers and police surrounded and closed off a town in El Salvador Sunday in order to search for street gang members accused in a killing.

The large-scale encirclement of the town of Comasagua is the latest example of heavy-handed tactics by the government to root out street gangs. Everyone entering or leaving the town was questioned or searched.

President Nayib Bukele wrote in his Twitter account that members of the MS-13 gang were believed to still be inside Comasagua, about 20 miles (30 kms) southwest of the capital, San Salvador.

Bukele requested Congress grant him extraordinary powers after gangs were blamed for 62 killings on March 26, and that decree has been renewed every month since then. It suspends some Constitutional rights and gives police more powers to arrest and hold suspects.

So, far the emergency decree has resulted in the arrest of 53,485 people, of whom 47,893 were charged.

Under the state of exception, the right of association, the right to be informed of the reason for an arrest and access to a lawyer are suspended. The government also can intervene in the calls and mail of anyone they consider a suspect. The time someone can be held without charges is extended from three days to 15 days.

Rights activists say young men are frequently arrested just based on their age, on their appearance or whether they live in a gang-dominated slum.

El Salvador’s gangs, which have been estimated to count some 70,000 members in their ranks, have long controlled swaths of territory and extorted and killed with impunity.