Saudi Prince Accused of Drug Smuggling Avoids Prosecution
BRIAN ROSS and JILL RACKMILLApril 1, 2005 — This week in Miami, while two drug defendants face a jury of their peers, one of their alleged co-conspirators remains safe and sound. The defendants are charged in a drug conspiracy case that involved the smuggling of two tons of cocaine from Colombia to France.
U.S. and French investigators say Nayef bin Sultan bin Fawwaz al-Shalaan, a member of the Saudi royal family, used his private 727 jet to smuggle drugs from South America to Le Borget airport outside of Paris. Under the rules of diplomatic immunity, when the prince landed at the airport in his private jet, his entourage received little or no inspection, a French official said.
The prince is now under indictment in the United States and France, but he remains in Saudi Arabia, a royal fugitive, protected by his powerful family, according to U.S. drug agents.
The US TV network ABC runs this story of a Saudi prince accused of masterminding a multi-million dollar drug scheme but avoiding prosecution because there are no extradition treaties between the US or France with Saudi Arabia. Unfortunately—or fortunately, actually—laws can’t be made up as we go. As the case of Ira Einhorn [Check the section on "Extradition"] demonstrates, this isn’t a problem only with Saudi Arabia, but one where international laws and treaties don’t perfectly line up with our desires or views of justice.
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November:12:2006 - 14:38
Things like this close relationship were also mentioned in that Michael Moore film
November:12:2006 - 15:36
Sometimes immunity does get waived in criminal cases. I recall immunity was waived a few years ago when a Ukrainian diplomat killed a girl while drunk-driving.
Apparently there is no hope of prosecuting al-Shalaan in the KSA, nor is the case even mentioned in Saudi newspapers. Therefore to me the question is, does keeping the Prince away from the wheels of justice deserve some sort of penalty be applied to the Saudi diplomatic community, and if so, what?
November:12:2006 - 16:38
John Ryan: This has nothing to do with any “close relationship”. It’s how international law works. Sometimes it works in ways we don’t like, sometimes it does.
November:12:2006 - 16:41
Solomon: The decision to waive diplomatic immunity (which actually isn’t the case here) is up to the country whose citizen is the one being accused. A lot of variables to into the equation, including the country’s ideas about whether or not the accused will receive a fair trial. Rightly or wrongly, there’s a strong sense in the KSA that Saudis will get a raw deal in American courts.
Because the KSA isn’t transparent, we don’t know what action (if any) the Saudi government may have taken. Perhaps they’ve pulled his passport. Perhaps they’ve cut him off from other funds. It would be nice if things were more transparent, though….
November:13:2006 - 04:19
John, I realize that what you are saying is that nothing has been done. (Perhaps the Prince’s passport has been withdrawn, but that is scarcely a punishment.)
Yet I can think of one sanction that can be applied without unduly affecting Saudi-U.S. relations or trade: suspend landing rights for the private (or wholly-owned corporate) aircraft of Saudis within U.S. airspace. That’s what made the drug trade possible.
Make all the royals fly Saudia to Dulles/Kennedy and domestic airlines within the country. It won’t stifle trade, the annoyance will concentrate minds, and the justice of such a sanction can not be disputed.
November:13:2006 - 09:00
No, I’m honestly saying that I don’t know if anything has been done. The Saudis–particularly the ruling family–don’t like being embarrassed, especially by their own. They have a multiple of ways to make their displeasure known, from banishing the miscreant from the major cities, to fines, to confiscation of real property.
Putting someone in prison is a further embarrassment, one that extents beyond the offender to the entire group. That tends to make things non-transparent to outsiders and limit the number of those who know on the inside. They take care of the “justice must be seen to be done” aspect through public executions. Sometimes royal offenders can’t avoid being executed, but that’s pretty rare.