Sec. 2. Findings
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Congress makes the following findings: On October 2, 2018, Washington Post journalist Jamal Khashoggi was murdered by agents of the Government of Saudi Arabia in the consulate of Saudi Arabia in Istanbul, Turkey, after having been monitored through commercial surveillance software. In 2019, the Department of Justice charged 2 Saudi Arabian former employees of Twitter with acting as illegal agents of the Government of Saudi Arabia, using their employee access to obtain private information on dissidents and critics of Saudi Arabia at the behest of that Government, and, according to public reporting and human rights groups, the Government of Saudi Arabia has also used commercial spyware to monitor the movements and communications of dozens of activists and journalists around the world and in the United States.
On July 30, 2019, the Committee on Foreign Relations of the Senate approved, in a bipartisan vote, S. 398, 116th Congress, known as the Saudi Arabia Accountability and Yemen Act of 2019, which required, among other things, the imposition of sanctions on any person involved in the death of Jamal Khashoggi. The National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2020 ( Public Law 116–92 ; 133 Stat. 1198), enacted on December 20, 2019, required the Director of National Intelligence to submit to Congress a report including the identification of those who carried out, participated in, ordered, or were otherwise complicit in or responsible for the death of Jamal Khashoggi.
On February 26, 2021, consistent with the National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2020, the Director of National Intelligence released a report entitled Assessing the Saudi Government’s Role in the Killing of Jamal Khashoggi , concluding that Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman approved the operation that killed Khashoggi. The Director's report also identified other senior officials of the Government of Saudi Arabia who participated in, ordered, or were otherwise complicit in or responsible for the death of Jamal Khashoggi on behalf of Muhammad bin Salman .
Section 7031(c) 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 . Section 6 of the Arms Export Control Act ( 22 U.S.C. 2756 ) 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 .
In February 2020, the Federal Bureau of Investigation declassified its assessment that officials of the Government of Saudi Arabia almost certainly assist United States-based [citizens of Saudi Arabia] in fleeing the United States because of legal issues, undermining the United States judicial process . Section 502B(a)(3) of the Foreign Assistance Act of 1961 ( 22 U.S.C. 2304(a)(3) ) 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, 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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- 133 Stat. 1198
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Sec. 2
Findings
Stat.133 Stat. 1198
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