Ex-Prince Andrew’s arrest spurs Epstein accountability calls from UK to US 

Washington, DC – The arrest of former British royal Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor has sparked renewed calls for accountability for Jefferey Epstein’s crimes and proper investigations into the late sex offender’s networks in the United States and across the world.

Police in the United Kingdom detained the ex-prince, brother of King Charles, on Thursday, with authorities saying that they had opened an investigation into possible misconduct in public office without naming Mountbatten-Windsor.

Reem Alsalem, the United Nations special rapporteur on violence against women and girls, said the arrests send “an important message that nobody is above the law, irrespective of your wealth, your connections – even if you’re royalty”.

“At the same time, it’s important that we examine the involvement of anyone that has enabled, facilitated, the crimes committed by the Epstein criminal enterprise,” Alsalem told Al Jazeera.

She stressed the need for independent investigations into individuals and institutions who may have been involved in Epstein’s crimes.

Mountbatten-Windsor’s arrests came weeks after the latest release of US government documents related to the sex abuse case, which showed deep ties between the former duke of York and Epstein.

Some exchanges suggested that Mountbatten-Windsor, who previously served as the UK’s trade envoy, shared government information with Epstein.

The former royal was released later on Thursday.

Millions of files related to Epstein have been released by the US government over the past two months after Congress passed a law compelling the administration of President Donald Trump to make the documents public.

The files, which included emails and text messages, showed that the disgraced financier, whom authorities say died of suicide while in jail in 2019, maintained friendships and business relations with rich and powerful people across the world.

Some documents and photos suggested that some of Epstein’s associates participated in, or at least were aware of, his sex abuse ring.

One picture showed Mountbatten-Windsor crouched over a female victim who was lying flat on the floor.

The former prince has denied any wrongdoing related to Epstein’s sex crimes.

Calls for justice

On Thursday, US Congressman Thomas Massie, one of the leading legislators who pushed for the release of the files, called on FBI Director Kash Patel and Attorney General Pam Bondi to act and bring people involved in Epstein’s sex abuse to justice.

“Now we need JUSTICE in the United States,” Massie said, commenting on the arrest of Mountbatten-Windsor.

The Republican congressman shared a video of comments he made on the House floor last year during a debate on the Epstein files bill.

“How will we know if this bill has been successful? We will know when there are men – rich men – in handcuffs being perp-walked to the jail,” Massie said in his speech. “And until then, this is still a cover-up.”

Over the years, Epstein built a network of hundreds of girls and young women for sexual exploitation. Many of the victims were made to travel around with him and stay at his private island in the Caribbean.

But the Trump administration has all but ruled out further charges in the case.

Last year, before the release of the documents, the US Department of Justice denied that Epstein had a “client list” of powerful people to whom he trafficked his sex abuse victims.

Earlier this month, deputy US Attorney General Todd Blanche sparked outrage when he appeared to dismiss calls for prosecuting Epstein’s allies.

“We will always investigate any evidence of misconduct. But as you know, it is not a crime to party with Mr Epstein,” he told Fox News. “And so, as horrible as it is, it is not a crime to email with Mr Epstein.”

Alsalem, the UN expert, said Blanche’s comments were “dismissive” of the victims and “the horrific experiences” they endured.

She noted that it had been known that Epstein was convicted of sex abuse crimes in 2008.

“In light of everything that we know and was known even back then by those who engaged with him, nobody can claim unawareness,” Alsalem told Al Jazeera.

“But indeed, at the same time, everybody accused should still benefit from a fair and impartial trial, but that’s why we have to get to that impartial and fair trial, and then they can also explain themselves.”

The Trump connection

Epstein was given what is widely seen as a lenient plea deal during his first conviction, where he admitted to solicitation of prostitution with a minor and was sentenced to 18 months in jail that included work release privileges.

He was arrested and charged again in 2019 after media reports scrutinised the 2008 federal prosecution against him, which was led by Alexander Acosta, who served as labour secretary in the first Trump administration.

Trump himself has been accused of ties to Epstein, but the US president said that he only knew the late sex offender as a neighbour in Palm Beach, Florida, and eventually dissociated with him because he was a “creep”.

Last year, The Wall Street Journal released what it said was a sexually suggestive birthday card in the shape of a nude woman sent by Trump to Epstein. The US president denied sending the letter and filed a lawsuit against the newspaper over the allegation.

“If a Prince can be held accountable, so can a President,” Democratic Congresswoman Melanie Stansbury wrote on X after Mountbatten-Windsor’s arrest.

Congressman Robert Garcia, the top Democrat on the Oversight Committee, called the arrest of the former British royal an “enormous step forward” towards accountability.

“Oversight Democrats called for Mountbatten-Windsor to come clean about his ties to Epstein months ago, and Britain is now holding him accountable with this arrest,” Garcia said in a statement.

“Now it’s time for the United States to end this White House cover-up. President Trump and his Epstein Administration are not above the law.”

In a Reuters/Ipsos poll released earlier this week, a majority of US respondents – 53 percent – agreed that the Epstein files have lowered their “trust in the country’s political and business leaders”.

And 69 percent said their views were captured by the statement that the files “show that powerful people in the US are rarely held accountable for their actions”.

Trump’s allies often note that the administration of former Democratic President Joe Biden had four years to release the Epstein files, but chose not to do so.

Some powerful Democratic politicians and donors, including former President Bill Clinton and ex-Treasury Secretary Larry Summers, also had ties to Epstein.

‘Organised attack’ against women and children

The issue goes beyond the US. The Epstein files have rocked British politics and led to calls for the resignation of Prime Minister Keir Starmer, who appointed Epstein associate Peter Mandelson as ambassador to Washington.

France and Norway have also opened probes into corruption and sex abuse allegations related to Epstein.

Earlier this week, UN experts, including Alsalem, found that Epstein’s crimes “reasonably meet the legal threshold of crimes against humanity”.

Alsalem told Al Jazeera that there needs to be an “independent, impartial investigation that spans all the countries and all individuals” reported to be involved in Epstein’s network.

“Not only that, we have to also examine the architecture of the alleged enterprise – the organisational structure,” she told Al Jazeera.

“We have to shift this investigation from looking at individual crimes, isolated criminal transactions, to realising that we’re talking about an organised attack directed against vulnerable women and children, including girls.”