Sec. 2. Findings
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Congress finds the following: On October 2, 2018, Washington Post journalist Jamal Khashoggi was murdered by Saudi government agents in Istanbul, having reportedly been lured out of the United States by Saudi diplomatic officials in Washington, DC, and monitored through surveillance spyware. On July 25, 2019, the House of Representatives passed by a margin of 405–7 the Saudi Arabia Human Rights and Accountability Act of 2019, which required— an unclassified report by the Director of National Intelligence on parties responsible for Khashoggi’s murder, a requirement ultimately inserted into and passed as part of the National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2020; visa sanctions on all persons identified in such report; and a report on human rights on Saudi Arabia.
On February 26, 2021, the Director of National Intelligence released the report produced pursuant to congressional direction, directly implicating Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman and other senior Saudi officials in the planning and direction of Khashoggi’s murder. Section 7031(c) of division K of the Consolidated Appropriations Act, 2021 ( Public Law 116–260 ) requires the Secretary of State to deny entry into the United States of officials of foreign governments and their immediate family members about whom the Secretary of State has credible information have been involved, directly or indirectly, in … a gross violation of human rights .
The Arms Export Control Act ( 22 U.S.C. 2751 et seq.) prohibits weapons transfers to foreign countries determined by the President to be engaged in a pattern of acts of intimidation or harassment directed against individuals in the United States . The Foreign Assistance Act of 1961 ( 22 U.S.C. 2151 et seq.) directs the President to formulate and conduct international security assistance programs of the United States in a manner which will avoid identification of the United States, through such programs, with governments which deny to their people internationally recognized human rights and fundamental freedoms .
Secretary of State Antony Blinken has affirmed the United States national interest in preventing authoritarian foreign governments from reaching beyond their borders to intimidate or harm persons within the United States, stating that: As a matter of safety for all within our borders, perpetrators targeting perceived dissidents on behalf of any foreign government should not be permitted to reach American soil. … We have made absolutely clear that extraterritorial threats and assaults by Saudi Arabia against activists, dissidents, and journalists must end. .
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