On the flip side, legal protections afforded envoys in foreign lands have also enabled flagrant violations of host countries’ laws and individuals’ rights, legal experts say. Al Saud was released from custody after posting $300,000 bail. Absent that protection, al Thani fled the country. In the recent Southern California cases, neither Sheik Khalid bin Hamad al Thani of Qatar’s ruling family nor Majed Abdulaziz al Saud of Saudi Arabia met the criteria for protection under diplomatic immunity, police have said. If diplomats were subject to arrest or even taxation, they would be at the mercy of local governments, he said. “You can’t conduct diplomacy effectively if diplomats can be harassed by the host country,” said Kal Raustiala, director of UCLA’s Burkle Center for International Relations.
Without putting the name to it, these societies were practicing an early form of diplomatic immunity - a concept once again in the news after a video surfaced of a Qatari man’s Ferrari racing through Beverly Hills and police arrested a Saudi prince who they say attempted to force a female worker to perform oral sex on him at a rented estate in Beverly Glen.Īgreements that provide envoys with safe passage and protection from arrest and prosecution have long been viewed as necessary tools for ensuring smooth international relations. Long ago, when Australia’s Dieri aborigines sent women to thrash out grievances with other, sometimes cannibalistic tribes, there was a tacit agreement: It’s not OK to shoot the messenger - or boil and eat her.