[Congressional Record Volume 164, Number 192 (Wednesday, December 5, 2018)]
[Senate]
[Pages S7320-S7321]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                         SUBMITTED RESOLUTIONS

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 SENATE RESOLUTION 714--EXPRESSING THE SENSE OF THE SENATE THAT CROWN 
 PRINCE MOHAMMED BIN SALMAN BIN ABD AL AZIZ AL SAUD OF SAUDI ARABIA BE 
HELD ACCOUNTABLE FOR CONTRIBUTING TO THE HUMANITARIAN CRISIS IN YEMEN, 
   PREVENTING A RESOLUTION TO THE BLOCKADE OF QATAR, THE JAILING AND 
TORTURE OF DISSIDENTS AND ACTIVISTS INSIDE THE KINGDOM OF SAUDI ARABIA, 
     THE USE OF FORCE TO INTIMIDATE RIVALS, AND THE ABHORRENT AND 
            UNJUSTIFIED MURDER OF JOURNALIST JAMAL KHASHOGGI

  Mr. GRAHAM (for himself, Mrs. Feinstein, Mr. Rubio, Mr. Markey, Mr. 
Young, and Mr. Coons) submitted the following resolution; which was 
referred to the Committee on Foreign Relations:

                              S. Res. 714

       Whereas following the accession of King Salman bin Abd al 
     Aziz Al Saud to the throne of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia in 
     January 2015, King Salman appointed his son, Prince Mohammed 
     bin Salman, as Minister of Defense;
       Whereas, on April 29, 2015, King Salman appointed Prince 
     Mohammed bin Salman as Deputy Crown Prince and elevated him 
     to the line of succession;
       Whereas, on June 21, 2017, King Salman appointed Prince 
     Mohammed bin Salman as Crown Prince and heir apparent to the 
     Saudi throne;
       Whereas Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman has frequently 
     disregarded the rights of Saudi citizens and in an effort to 
     consolidate his personal control over Saudi government 
     decision-making;
       Whereas, following his appointment as Crown Prince, 
     Mohammed bin Salman began carrying out a systematic purge of 
     individuals opposed or agnostic to his rule and vision;
       Whereas, in November 2017, numerous members of the royal 
     family, prominent businessmen, cabinet ministers, and former 
     officials within Saudi Arabia were detained and allegedly 
     tortured in Riyadh's Ritz-Carlton hotel at the order of 
     Mohammed Bin Salman;
       Whereas one of Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman's first 
     acts as Minister of Defense was to launch a military campaign 
     in Yemen with the stated objective of restoring the 
     internationally recognized Government of Yemen, which had 
     been forced out of Yemen by the Iran-backed Houthi rebels;
       Whereas, in March 2015, Saudi Arabia instituted a naval and 
     aerial blockade on Yemen, and currently maintains strict 
     limits on air and sea transit to the country which contribute 
     to delays of critical humanitarian aid and commercial 
     supplies to a nation that imports as much as 90 percent of 
     its food and relies on imported fuel;
       Whereas the Saudi-led intervention in Yemen is in its 
     fourth year and has contributed to 22,200,000 Yemenis needing 
     humanitarian assistance;
       Whereas, on December 4, 2018, President Donald J. Trump's 
     nominee to serve as the Ambassador to the Republic of Yemen 
     testified that the ongoing civil war in Yemen has exacerbated 
     the world's largest food security

[[Page S7321]]

     emergency, created power vacuums that terrorists have 
     exploited, facilitated Iran's ambitions, and complicated 
     United States counterterrorism efforts;
       Whereas, on June 5, 2017, Saudi Arabia, along with the 
     United Arab Emirates, Bahrain, Egypt, and other countries, 
     severed diplomatic relations with Qatar, recalled their 
     ambassadors, expelled Qatari diplomats, and imposed limits on 
     the entry and transit of Qatari nationals and vessels in 
     their territories, waters, and airspace;
       Whereas the blockade against Qatar has significantly 
     complicated relationships in the region and hindered United 
     States counterterrorism and counter-Iran objectives, and 
     undermined United States efforts to end conflicts across the 
     region;
       Whereas, in November 2017, Mohammed bin Salman pressured 
     Lebanon's Prime Minister, Saad Hariri, to resign from his 
     position via a television broadcast while in Saudi Arabia;
       Whereas, according to the organization Reporters without 
     Borders, the arrest of journalists and bloggers has doubled 
     since the appointment of Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, 
     and an estimated 28 individuals are currently still detained;
       Whereas, under Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, the 
     Government of Saudi Arabia continues to detain political 
     prisoners, including Saudi blogger Raif Badawi since 2012 and 
     Saudi women's right activists since August 2018;
       Whereas Jamal Khashoggi was a prominent Saudi journalist 
     and an outspoken critic of Crown Prince Mohammed Bin Salman;
       Whereas, on September 18, 2017, Jamal Khashoggi wrote of 
     increased ``waves of arrests ahead of the Crown Prince's 
     ascension to the throne,'' and stated that he had left Saudi 
     Arabia and gone into self-imposed exile in the United States 
     of America due to his fear of arrest by the Crown Prince;
       Whereas, throughout 2017 and 2018, Jamal Khashoggi wrote a 
     series of opinion articles offering pointed critiques and 
     advice to Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman and to United 
     States and Saudi officials;
       Whereas, prior to his death, Jamal Khashoggi had sought 
     status as a lawful permanent resident of the United States 
     and was the father to three United States citizens;
       Whereas, on October 2, 2018, Jamal Khashoggi disappeared 
     during a visit to the Consulate of the Kingdom of Saudi 
     Arabia in Istanbul, Turkey;
       Whereas, following the disappearance, Turkish authorities 
     reported that Jamal Khashoggi had been murdered inside the 
     Saudi consulate;
       Whereas, on October 8, 2018, the brother of Crown Prince 
     Mohammed bin Salman and Saudi Ambassador to the United 
     States, Prince Khalid bin Salman, stated that ``the reports 
     that suggest that Jamal Khashoggi went missing in the 
     Consulate in Istanbul or that the Kingdom's authorities have 
     detained him or killed him are absolutely false, and 
     baseless'';
       Whereas, on October 19, 2018, the Saudi Ministry of Foreign 
     Affairs announced that Mr. Khashoggi was murdered inside the 
     Saudi consulate by Saudi nationals on October 2, 2018; and
       Whereas, on November 15, 2018, the United States Department 
     of the Treasury sanctioned 17 Saudi officials, including 
     senior Saudi government official Saud al-Qahtani, his 
     subordinate Maher Mutreb, and Saudi Consul General Mohammed 
     Alotaibi, for their connection to the killing of Jamal 
     Khashoggi, including some individuals who worked directly for 
     Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman and his personal security 
     apparatus: Now, therefore, be it
       Resolved, That the Senate--
       (1) condemns in the strongest possible terms the murder of 
     Jamal Khashoggi;
       (2) finds that as Crown Prince, Mohammed bin Salman was in 
     control of the security forces at the time of Jamal 
     Khashoggi's murder;
       (3) based on evidence and analysis made available to this 
     institution, has a high level of confidence that Mohammed bin 
     Salman was complicit in the murder of Jamal Khashoggi;
       (4) urges the United States Government and the 
     international community to hold all parties, including 
     Mohammed bin Salman, involved in the murder of Jamal 
     Khashoggi accountable;
       (5) calls on the Government of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia 
     to negotiate directly with representatives of the Houthi 
     movement in order to end the war in Yemen, agree on a 
     political resolution, reverse the humanitarian crisis, and 
     refocus efforts on defeating al Qaeda and ISIS in Yemen;
       (6) calls on the Government of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia 
     to negotiate a political solution to its dispute with Qatar 
     expeditiously and in a way that restores diplomatic relations 
     with Qatar; and
       (7) urges the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia to immediately 
     release Saudi blogger Raif Badawi, the Saudi women's rights 
     activists, and other detained political prisoners.

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