Section 1 Short title
This Act may be cited as the “Jamal Khashoggi Protection of Activists and Press Freedom Act of 2023”.
Jamal Khashoggi Protection of Activists and Press Freedom Act of 2023
A BILL
To enshrine the legacy of Jamal Khashoggi by protecting activists and journalists, codifying the Khashoggi Ban, and introducing the Khashoggi Amendment to the Foreign Sovereign Immunities Act, and for other purposes.
Sec. 2 Findings
Congress finds the following:
A free and independent press is necessary for citizens to make informed choices on issues of public concern, to have the information necessary to recognize truth from falsehood, and to hold the powerful and Government officials to account.
As reflected in the First Amendment to the United States Constitution, a free press is essential to safeguard democracy.
The suppression of the press is historically associated with authoritarian rule.
As provided in article 19 of the United Nations Universal Declaration of Human Rights and the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, all people enjoy the right to freedom of opinion and expression, which includes the right to seek, receive, and impart information.
An informed public is fundamental to a free society.
In accordance with a long United States history of championing freedom of the press around the globe, the Daniel Pearl Freedom of the Press Act of 2009 was enacted into law (Public Law 111–166).
Since the passage of the Daniel Pearl Freedom of the Press Act of 2009, the global environment for a free and independent press has become more repressive.
According to data from the Committee to Protect Journalists, at least 363 journalists were imprisoned globally in relation to their work as of December 1, 2022, a new global high that overtakes the prior year’s record by 20 percent and marks another grim milestone in a deteriorating media landscapes. The Committee to Protect Journalists also reported there was complete impunity in nearly 80 percent of the 263 cases of journalists murdered globally between September 1, 2012, to August 31, 2022.
According to Freedom House’s publication “Freedom in the World 2023”, global freedom has declined for 17 consecutive years, and over the past year, media freedom came under pressure in at least 157 countries and territories assessed in the report. Freedom House data also show that freedom of expression, for the media and individuals, has declined more than any other civil liberty over the last 17 years, and infringement on free expression is one of the biggest drivers of democratic backsliding globally.
According to data from Reporters Without Borders, 55 journalists were killed in 2022, an almost 15 percent increase over the prior year, and since 2020, more journalists have been deliberately targeted and killed in countries considered “at peace” than in conflict zones.
In 2018, the brutal murder of Jamal Khashoggi at the hands of Saudi intelligence officers acting on explicit orders of the Saudi Government underscored the extent to which those in power will go to stifle the freedom of expression, silence their critics, and eliminate the threat they believe independent journalists pose to their rule. The Office of the Director of National Intelligence released a partial, declassified intelligence report on February 26, 2021, which concluded that Khashoggi’s murder was approved by Saudi Crown Prince Mohamed bin Salman. However, impunity continues for the Saudi officials involved in this crime.
In March 2022, a Turkish judge, likely at the behest of President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, issued a ruling that closed the criminal trial of the perpetrators in Türkiye (Turkey) and transferred it to Saudi Arabia, where the case against the perpetrators was promptly dismissed, foreclosing the prospect that they will ever be held accountable.
In an effort to combat attacks against journalists and others exercising their right to freedom of expression, Secretary of State Antony J. Blinken in February 2021 announced the Khashoggi Ban, a new policy allowing the Department of State to impose visa restrictions on individuals who, acting on behalf of a foreign government, are believed to have been directly engaged in serious, extraterritorial counter-dissident activities, including activities that suppress, harass, surveil, threaten, or harm journal1ists, activists, or other persons perceived to be dissidents for their work.
Sec. 3 Khashoggi ban ground of inadmissibility
Section 212(a)(3) of the Immigration and Nationality Act (8 U.S.C. 1182(a)(3)) is amended by adding at the end the following:
“(H) Khashoggi ban
“(i) In general—An alien who is determined by the Secretary of State, or the Secretary of Homeland Security in consultation with the Secretary of State, to be engaged in counter-dissident activities is inadmissible.
“(ii) Discretionary ban—Any alien who is an immediate family member of an alien who is inadmissible under clause (i) may be inadmissible, as determined by the Secretary of State or the Secretary of Homeland Security, in consultation with the Secretary of State.
“(iii) Notification of determinations—If an alien is determined to be inadmissible under clause (i) or (ii), the Secretary of State, or the Secretary of Homeland Security in consultation with the Secretary of State, shall notify Congress, and may also make a public statement, identifying the alien and the reasons for the determination.
“(iv) Clarification—For the purposes of clause (iii), the records of the Department of State and of diplomatic and consular offices of the United States pertaining to the issuance or refusal of visas or permits to enter the United States shall not be considered confidential.
“(v) National interest waiver—The Secretary of State or the Secretary of Homeland Security, in consultation with the Secretary of State, may waive the requirements of this subparagraph, or any part thereof, if such Secretary determines that such a waiver—
“(I) is necessary to permit the United States to comply with the Agreement Regarding the Headquarters of the United Nations, signed at Lake Success June 26, 1947, and entered into force November 21, 1947 (TIAS 1676), or any other applicable international obligation of the United States; or
“(II) is in the national interest of the United States.
“(vi) Definition—In this subparagraph, the term counter-dissident activities means actions taken by a foreign government or an individual who operates subject to the direction or control of a foreign government or official, to silence, suppress, harass, surveil, threaten, or harm journalists, activists, or other persons perceived to be dissidents by the foreign government, which may include extrajudicial executions, physical attacks, digital stalking, abductions, illegal deportations, or other forms of aggression, threats, or intimidation toward the targeted individual or close associates or family members of that individual.”
Sec. 4 Khashoggi amendment to the Foreign Sovereign Immunities Act
General exceptions to the jurisdictional immunity of a foreign state— Section 1605(a) of title 28, United States Code, is amended—
in paragraph (5)(B), by striking “or” at the end;
in paragraph (6), by striking the period and inserting “; or”; and
by adding at the end the following:
“(7) in which money damages are sought against a foreign state for the personal injury or death of a United States person (as such term is defined in section 1637(d)(10) of the Carl Levin and Howard P. ‘Buck’ McKeon National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2015 (50 U.S.C. 1708(d)(10)), which personal injury or death occurred—
“(A) outside of the territory of that foreign state on or after October 2, 2017; and
“(B) as a direct result of actions taken outside of the territory of that foreign state by a foreign state or an individual who operated subject to the direction or control of a foreign state or official, to silence, suppress, harass, surveil, threaten, or harm the United States person because of that person’s role as a journalist, activist, or other perceived dissidence.”
Exceptions to the immunity from attachment or execution— Section 1610 of title 28, United States Code, is amended by striking “section 1605(a)(2), (3), or (5)” and inserting “paragraph (2), (3), (5), or (7) of section 1605(a)”.
Sec. 5 Report to Congress
Report— Not later than 180 days after the date of enactment of this Act, and every year thereafter for three years, the Secretary of State shall submit to the Committee on Foreign Affairs of the House of Representatives, the Committee on Foreign Relations of the Senate, and the Committees on the Judiciary of the House of Representatives and of the Senate, a report, including a classified annex if necessary, describing, for the previous year, each act of serious counter-dissident activity committed by—
each individual determined to be inadmissible under section 212(a)(3)(H) of the Immigration and Nationality Act (8 U.S.C. 1182); and
each individual with respect to whom a waiver was granted under clause (v) of such section 212(a)(3)(H) and a justification for each such waiver.
Posting of Report— The Secretary of State shall make the unclassified version of the report required under subsection (a) publicly available on the website of the Department of State.
Sec. 6 Rule of construction
Nothing in this Act or an amendment made by this Act may be construed to alter or affect any sanction imposed with respect to violations of human rights under any other provision of law or to limit the authority of the President to impose sanctions with respect to violations of human rights.