119-hres854

[Congressional Bills 119th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H. Res. 854 Introduced in House

    (IH) ]

<DOC>

119th CONGRESS
 1st Session
H. RES. 854

Commemorating the seventh anniversary of the murder of Jamal Khashoggi 
 and calling for accountability.

_______________________________________________________________________

 IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

 October 31, 2025

 Mr. Walkinshaw (for himself, Mr. Beyer, Ms. McCollum, Mr. Cohen, Mr. 
 Subramanyam, Ms. Norton, Ms. Titus, Mr. Moulton, Mr. McGovern, Mr. 
Doggett, and Mr. Raskin) submitted the following resolution; which was 
 referred to the Committee on Foreign Affairs

_______________________________________________________________________

 RESOLUTION

Commemorating the seventh 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 brutally 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, 
 executions, 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, 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, according to Freedom House, governments that perpetrate transnational 
 repression tactics regularly reach beyond their borders to intimidate 
 journalists and suppress truthful reporting;
Whereas, since 2014, 26 governments have carried out 124 incidents of 
 transnational repression against exiled journalists;
Whereas, on June 17, 2025, the leaders of the G7 recognized transnational 
 repression as a global threat to national security and democracy;
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, 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 Aziza Yousef and Saad Almadi;
Whereas Turki al-Jasser, a journalist and founder of the news blog Al-Mashhad 
 Al-Saudi, was executed on June 14, 2025, after 7 years of arbitrary 
 imprisonment in Saudi Arabia;
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 Nourah al Qahtani, Abdulrahman Alsadhan, 
 Salman Alodah, Waleed Abu al-Khair, and Sarah and Omar 
 Aljabri; and
            (C) respect the rights of Saudi citizens and ensure 
 the protection of the freedoms of assembly, 
 association, and the press.
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