This resolution calls for Saudi Arabia to ensure accountability for all individuals responsible for the murder of Jamal Khashoggi, release all individuals wrongly detained, lift restrictions on dissidents, and respect the rights of Saudi citizens.
[Congressional Bills 118th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H. Res. 753 Introduced in House (IH)]
<DOC>
118th CONGRESS
1st Session
H. RES. 753
Commemorating the fifth anniversary of the murder of Jamal Khashoggi
and calling for accountability.
_______________________________________________________________________
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
September 30, 2023
Mr. Connolly (for himself, Mr. Beyer, Mr. Scott of Virginia, Ms.
McClellan, Ms. Wexton, Ms. Spanberger, Mr. Phillips, Mr. McGovern, Mr.
Schiff, Mr. Carson, Ms. Omar, Ms. Norton, Mr. Keating, Mr. Cohen, Mr.
Doggett, Mr. Moulton, Ms. Adams, Ms. Schakowsky, Ms. Titus, Ms. Jacobs,
Mr. Vargas, Mr. Trone, Ms. McCollum, Ms. Velazquez, Mr. Lynch, Ms. Lee
of California, Mr. Castro of Texas, Mr. Raskin, Mr. Allred, Mr. Evans,
Ms. Clarke of New York, and Mr. Blumenauer) submitted the following
resolution; which was referred to the Committee on Foreign Affairs
_______________________________________________________________________
RESOLUTION
Commemorating the fifth anniversary of the murder of Jamal Khashoggi
and calling for accountability.
Whereas Jamal Khashoggi was a Saudi journalist, author, and a former general
manager and editor-in-chief of Al-Arab News Channel who fled Saudi
Arabia in June 2017 and went into self-imposed exile in Virginia in the
United States;
Whereas, on September 18, 2017, Jamal Khashoggi published his first article in
the Washington Post, stating, ``I have left my home, my family and my
job, and I am raising my voice. To do otherwise would betray those who
languish in prison. I can speak when so many cannot. I want you to know
that Saudi Arabia has not always been as it is now. We Saudis deserve
better.'';
Whereas, on October 2, 2018, Jamal Khashoggi was killed and dismembered by
agents of the Government of Saudi Arabia in the consulate of Saudi
Arabia in Istanbul, Turkey;
Whereas, in February 2021, the Government of the United States submitted an
unclassified report to Congress, providing transparency on the killing
and announced the Khashoggi Ban, a measure that allows the Department of
State to impose visa restrictions on individuals who ``directly engage
in serious, extraterritorial counter-dissident activities, including
those that suppress, harass, surveil, threaten, or harm journalists,
activists, or other persons perceived to be dissidents'';
Whereas the Office of the Director of National Intelligence found that the Crown
Prince of Saudi Arabia, Muhammad bin Salman, approved an operation in
Istanbul, Turkey, to capture or kill Khashoggi;
Whereas, since the brutal murder of Jamal Khashoggi, the Government of Saudi
Arabia continues to crack down on free expression through the use of
enforced disappearances, unjust detentions, threats, intimidation, and
transnational repression;
Whereas Freedom House defines transnational repression as ``governments reaching
across borders to silence dissent among diasporas and exiles, including
through assassinations, illegal deportations, abductions, digital
threats, Interpol abuse, and family intimidation'';
Whereas the Department of Homeland Security, the Department of Justice,
including the Federal Bureau of Investigation, and the Department of
State are part of a recently launched ``whole-of-government'' response
to transnational repression, which is being coordinated by the National
Security Council;
Whereas, according to Freedom House, the Governments of Iran, the People's
Republic of China, Egypt, the Russian Federation, Rwanda, Saudi Arabia,
and other states are increasingly disregarding the laws of the United
States to threaten, harass, surveil, stalk, and, in some cases, plot
physical harm to individuals across the United States;
Whereas citizens of the United States Areej al-Sadhan, sister of detained
humanitarian aid worker Abdulrahman al-Sadhan, and Abdullah Alaoudh of
Virginia, son of detained scholar Salman Alodah, have been subject to
intimidation and harassment in the United States;
Whereas, in August 2022, a former Twitter employee was found guilty of acting as
an unregistered agent of the Government of Saudi Arabia, spying on Saudi
dissidents and sharing their private information with Saudi leadership;
Whereas Saudi officials have continued to arrest, ban the travel of, and
otherwise intimidate women and women human rights defenders, including
Loujain Alhathloul, Manahel and Fouz al-Otaibi, Fatima al-Shawarbi, Dr.
Lina al-Sharif, Salma al-Shehab, and Nourah al-Qahtani;
Whereas Saudi border security systematically killed hundreds of Ethiopian
migrants, including women and children, crossing the Saudi-Yemeni border
between March 2022 and June 2023, subjecting others to brutal violence
and sexual assault;
Whereas Saudi officials continue to unjustly imprison and ban individuals from
the United States from travel, including Walid Fitahi and his family,
Salah Haidar, Aziza Yousef, and Saad Almadi;
Whereas Saudi human rights abuses, including against individuals of the United
States, place unnecessary strain on the United States-Saudi Arabia
relationship, which is an essential element of regional stability; and
Whereas the United States has an important strategic relationship with Saudi
Arabia, one based on a long history of cooperation on regional security
issues and energy supply: Now, therefore, be it
Resolved, That the House of Representatives--
(1) acknowledges the Government of the United States has
sanctioned 17 Saudi individuals under the Global Magnitsky
Human Rights Accountability Act (subtitle F of title XII of
Public Law 114-328; 22 U.S.C. 10101 et seq.) for their roles in
the murder of Jamal Khashoggi; and
(2) calls for the Government of Saudi Arabia to--
(A) ensure appropriate accountability for all
individuals responsible for the murder of Jamal
Khashoggi, including the individuals sanctioned by the
United States;
(B) release all individuals wrongfully detained,
including Salma Alshehab, Nourah al-Qahtani,
Abdulrahman Alsadhan, Muhammed al-Qahtani, Salman
Alodah, Waleed Abu al-Khair, and Sarah and Omar
Aljabri;
(C) lift travel bans and other arbitrary
restrictions on dissidents and former political
prisoners, including Raif Badawi; and
(D) respect the rights of Saudi citizens and ensure
the protection of the freedoms of assembly,
association, and the press.
<all>
Introduced in House
Introduced in House
Referred to the House Committee on Foreign Affairs.
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