Press Releases

Today, the House Foreign Affairs advanced the Protection of Saudi Dissidents Act, legislation authored by Congressman Gerald E. Connolly, president of the NATO Parliamentary Assembly. Connolly’s bill would hold Saudi Arabia accountable for the murder of Jamal Khashoggi, a Washington Post columnist and Connolly’s constituent,  and impose a cost to Saudi Arabia for continuing to engage in such acts of intimidation and violence going forward.

“The U.S. intelligence report assessing the role of the Saudi government in the cold-blooded murder of my constituent, Jamal Khashoggi, clearly and definitively lays responsibility on the Crown Prince.” Connolly said. “Now the question is, what is the United States going to do about it? The Committee’s action today in taking up this bill is a clear and forceful answer to that question. The United States will exercise its leverage to stop the Kingdom and the Crown Prince from acting with impunity to commit these gross human rights abuses.”

Specifically, the Protection of Saudi Dissidents Act:

• Limits arms exports to Saudi intelligence, internal security, or law enforcement entities if the President finds that Saudi Arabia has engaged in the following activities:
  • Forced repatriation, intimidation, or killing of dissidents in other countries.
  • The unjust imprisonment in Saudi Arabia of United States citizens or residents or the placing of travel restrictions on them or their family members.
  • And the torture of detainees in the custody of the Government of Saudi Arabia.
• Requires the closure of one or more Saudi diplomatic facilities if the President finds that Saudi is using diplomatic or consular personnel to harass or harm Saudi nationals in the United States.
• Requires a report on whether Saudi Arabia has been engaged in a consistent pattern of acts of intimidation or harassment directed against individuals in the United States.
• Requires a report on whether the U.S. intelligence community fulfilled its duty to warn Jamal Khashoggi of threats to his life.

"The most recent revelations that Saudi officials issued death threats against UN human rights expert Agnes Callamard once again demonstrate the urgent need for action by the United States and the international community to reign in this pattern of egregious behavior by the Saudi government," said Dokhi Fassihian, interim Washington Director of PEN America. "We welcome the passage of the Protection of Saudi Dissidents Act in committee today. Congress should pass this important legislation to make crystal clear that the rogue transnational acts of intimidation and violence that have become the character of Crown Prince Mohamed Bin Salman's rule will not be tolerated."

Project on Middle East Democracy (POMED) said, “This legislation is an important step toward further accountability for the murder of Jamal Khashoggi and makes clear that attempts to stifle dissent do not come without consequence. It sends an important message to Saudi Arabia and other authoritarian governments that the United States will protect fundamental freedoms, internationally recognized human rights, and international law.”

Despite bipartisan congressional efforts to hold Saudi Arabia accountable, the Trump administration continued to provide arms and military training to the Saudis.  Connolly successfully offered an amendment to the FY 2020 Appropriations Package that would bar Saudi Arabia from receiving assistance provided by the International Military Education and Training program. 

Connolly’s full statement at today’s hearing follows:

Markup

H.R. 1392, Protection of Saudi Dissidents Act

Thursday, March 25, 2021

Virtual

Rep. Gerald E. Connolly (D-VA)

“We assess that Saudi Arabia’s Crown Prince Muhammad bin Salman approved an operation in Istanbul, Turkey to capture or kill Saudi journalist Jamal Khashoggi.

We base this assessment on the Crown Prince’s control of decisionmaking in the Kingdom, the direct involvement of a key adviser and members of Muhammad bin Salman’s protective detail in the operation, and the Crown Prince’s support for using violent measures to silence dissidents abroad, including Khashoggi.

Since 2017, the Crown Prince has had absolute control of the Kingdom’s security and intelligence organizations, making it highly unlikely that Saudi officials would have carried out an operation of this nature without the Crown Prince’s authorization.”

This is word-for-word text from the previously classified U.S. intelligence report assessing the role of the Saudi government in the cold-blooded murder of my constituent, Jamal Khashoggi. It is all there. 

• Crown Prince Muhammad bin Salman directed the assassination. 
• The operation was part of a broader and ongoing effort to use violence to silence dissidents abroad.
• And the Crown Prince has absolute control over the security and intelligence organizations – instrumentalities that are being used to wage a murderous campaign to stifle dissent.

Now the question is, what is the United States going to do about it? The Committee’s action today in taking up this bill, the Protection of Saudi Dissidents Act, is a clear and forceful answer to that question. The United States will exercise its leverage to stop the Kingdom and the Crown Prince from acting with impunity to commit these gross human rights abuses.

I want to thank Chairman Meeks and Ranking Member McCaul for working with me to strengthen this bill and ensure that we accomplish our stated intent. 

The bill is targeted and does 4 things:

1. It limits arms exports to Saudi intelligence, internal security, or law enforcement entities if the President finds that Saudi Arabia has engaged in the following activities:
   1. Forced repatriation, intimidation, or killing of dissidents in other countries.
   2. The unjust imprisonment in Saudi Arabia of United States citizens or residents or the placing of travel restrictions on them or their family members.
   3. And the torture of detainees in the custody of the Government of Saudi Arabia.
2. It requires the closure of one or more Saudi diplomatic facilities if the President finds that Saudi is using diplomatic or consular personnel to harass or harm Saudi nationals in the United States.
3. It requires a report on whether Saudi Arabia has been engaged in a consistent pattern of acts of intimidation or harassment directed against individuals in the United States.
4. And finally, it requires a report on whether the U.S. intelligence community fulfilled its duty to warn Jamal Khashoggi of threats to his life.

This bill has the support of:

• Committee to Protect Journalists
• Reporters Without Borders
• PEN America
• Human Rights First 
• Human Rights Watch 
• Freedom Now
• And many other organizations

And I request unanimous consent to enter into the record:

·         A May 2020 New York Times article entitled “As Saudi Official Hid Abroad, His Family Became a Target at Home”

·         A May 2019 New York Times article entitled  “It Wasn’t Just Khashoggi: A Saudi Prince’s Brutal Drive to Crush Dissent”

·         A January 2019 New Yorker article entitled  “The Saudi Government’s Global Campaign to Silence Its Critics”

·         A November 2018 Washington Post article entitled “Saudi campaign to abduct and silence rivals abroad goes back decades”

·         An October 2018 New York Times article entitled “‘Our Hands Can Reach You’: Khashoggi Case Shakes Saudi Dissidents Abroad”

I have met with the family members of victims of Saudi Arabia’s war on dissent. I have worked with them to fight for their loved ones’ release from unjust imprisonment. I have worked with the Aljabri family and the siblings of Loujain Al-Hathloul to advance this bill. And I am currently fighting for my constituents Salah Al-Haider and Aziza Al-Yousef as they battle political persecution in Saudi Arabia.

And to those who think Saudi Arabia is changing its behavior: I asked unanimous consent to enter into the record a report from Tuesday which has been confirmed by the UN, “UN Special Rapporteur says top Saudi official issued death threat against her for role in Khashoggi investigation.” Now, I have met with Agnès Callamard. She is not going to be intimidated, but the very fact this thuggish behavior is happening in the open at the UN and that the Saudi delegation actually had to be warned by the UN that this was unacceptable, conveys the sense of invincibility felt by the Kingdom and its officials.  

I also ask unanimous consent to enter into the record the report for which Ms. Callamard’s life is now being threatened, the June 2019 Report on Jamal Khashoggi’s Killing by UN Special Rapporteur on extrajudicial, summary or arbitrary killings.

Please join me in sending a message to human rights defenders, dissidents, and journalists worldwide reaffirming the unshakable American commitment to basic rights and freedoms and ending what Jamal’s editor at the Washington Post has referred to as a “two-year pageant of impunity” by finally holding Saudi Arabia accountable.