President Trump’s administration on Thursday imposed human rights sanctions on 17 people “involved in the abhorrent killing” of dissident journalist Jamal Khashoggi, including a former adviser to Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman.
“These individuals who targeted and brutally killed a journalist who resided and worked in the United States must face consequences for their actions,” Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin said in a message accompanying the sanctions designations. “The United States continues to diligently work to ascertain all of the facts and will hold accountable each of those we find responsible in order to achieve justice for Khashoggi’s fiancée, children, and the family he leaves behind.”
Mnuchin blacklisted Saud Al-Qahtani, a long-time aide to the crown prince, as well as an al-Qahtani “subordinate” and Saudi Consul General Mohammed Alotaibi for the Khashoggi killing, which took place in a diplomatic facility in Turkey. The decision followed a Senate demand that the administration investigate whether the incident warranted sanctions under the Global Magnitsky Act, a federal law targeting international human rights abusers.
“Our expectation is that in making your determination you will consider any relevant information, including with respect to the highest ranking officials in the Government of Saudi Arabia,” a bipartisan group of senators, mostly from the Foreign Relations Committee, wrote to the administration last month.
Mnuchin’s announcement punished senior Saudi officials close to the crown prince, as well as “14 other members of an operations team” that carried out the execution, but he stopped short of imposing sanctions on the crown prince himself. Such a personal rebuke would put unprecedented strain on a U.S.-Saudi relationship that has anchored American foreign policy in the region for decades.
