II 

116TH CONGRESS 

2D SESSION S. 4992 

To protect journalists and other members of the press from gross violations 

of internationally recognized human rights, and for other purposes. 

IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES 

DECEMBER 9, 2020 

Ms. KLOBUCHAR (for herself and Mr. LEAHY) introduced the following bill; 

which was read twice and referred to the Committee on Foreign Relations 

A BILL 

To protect journalists and other members of the press from 

gross violations of internationally recognized human 

rights, and for other purposes. 

1 Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa2 tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 

3 SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 

4 This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Jamal Khashoggi 

5 Press Freedom Accountability Act of 2020’’. 

6 SEC. 2. FINDINGS. 

7 Congress finds the following: 

8 (1) A free and independent press is necessary 

9 for citizens to make informed choices on issues of 

10 public concern, to have the information necessary to 


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1 recognize truth from falsehood, and to hold the pow2 erful and government officials to account. 

3 (2) As reflected in the First Amendment to the 

4 United States Constitution, a free press is essential 

5 to safeguard democracy. 

6 (3) The suppression of the press is historically 

7 associated with authoritarian rule. 

8 (4) As provided in Article 19 of the United Na9 tions Universal Declaration of Human Rights and 

10 the International Covenant on Civil and Political 

11 Rights, all people enjoy the right to freedom of opin12 ion and expression, which includes the right to seek, 

13 receive, and impart information. 

14 (5) An informed public is fundamental to a free 

15 society. 

16 (6) In accordance with a long United States 

17 history of championing freedom of the press around 

18 the globe, the Daniel Pearl Freedom of the Press 

19 Act of 2009 (Public Law 111–166; 124 Stat. 1186) 

20 was enacted into law. 

21 (7) Since the passage of the Daniel Pearl Free22 dom of the Press Act of 2009, the global environ23 ment for a free and independent press has become 

24 more repressive. 


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1 (8) According to 2019 data from the Committee 

2 to Protect Journalists, for the fourth consecutive 

3 year, at least 248 journalists were imprisoned glob4 ally in 2019, and in 96 percent of the 337 cases in 

5 which journalists were murdered for their work 

6 worldwide in the preceding decade, either no perpe7 trator was successfully prosecuted or only some of 

8 the suspected perpetrators were convicted. 

9 (9) According to 2019 data from Freedom 

10 House, in 7 of the preceding 10 years, more coun11 tries saw declines in press freedom scores than im12 provements. In the preceding 5 years, nearly 50 per13 cent more countries saw a net decline in press free14 dom. 

15 (10) According to 2019 data from Reporters 

16 Without Borders, 63 percent of the journalists killed 

17 in 2019 were deliberately targeted and 59 percent 

18 were killed outside war zones. 

19 (11) In 2018, the brutal murder of Jamal 

20 Khashoggi at the hands of Saudi intelligence officers 

21 acting on explicit orders of the Government of Saudi 

22 Arabia underscored the extent to which those in 

23 power will go to stifle the freedom of expression, si24 lence their critics, and eliminate the threat they be25 lieve independent journalists pose to their rule. 


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1 SEC. 3. EXPANDING SCOPE OF HUMAN RIGHTS REPORTS 

2 WITH RESPECT TO VIOLATIONS OF INTER3 NATIONALLY RECOGNIZED HUMAN RIGHTS 

4 AGAINST JOURNALISTS. 

5 The Foreign Assistance Act of 1961 (22 U.S.C. 2151 

6 et seq.) is amended— 

7 (1) in section 116(d)(12) (22 U.S.C. 

8 2151n(d)(12))— 

9 (A) in subparagraph (B), by striking ‘‘di10 rect physical attacks’’ and all that follows 

11 through ‘‘pressure,’’ and inserting the following: 

12 ‘‘gross violations of internationally recognized 

13 human rights (as defined in section 502B), di14 rect physical attacks, online harassment, im15 prisonment, indirect sources of pressure, sur16 veillance,’’; and 

17 (B) in subparagraph (C)(ii), by striking 

18 ‘‘ensure the prosecution’’ and all that follows 

19 through the end period and inserting ‘‘ensure 

20 the investigation, prosecution, and proper pun21 ishment of government officials or private indi22 viduals who engage in or facilitate murder, un23 lawful imprisonment, bodily harm, digital or 

24 physical attacks, including hacking, censorship, 

25 surveillance, or harassment against journalists 

26 and others who perform, or provide administraVerDate Sep 11 2014 03:22 Dec 16, 2020 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00004 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S4992.IS S4992

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1 tive support to, the dissemination of print, 

2 broadcast, internet-based, or social media in3 tended to communicate facts or opinion.’’; and 

4 (2) in section 502B (22 U.S.C. 2304)— 

5 (A) in the first subsection (i), in paragraph 

6 (2), by striking ‘‘direct physical attacks’’ and 

7 all that follows through ‘‘pressure,’’ and insert8 ing the following: ‘‘gross violations of inter9 nationally recognized human rights, direct phys10 ical attacks, online harassment, imprisonment, 

11 indirect sources of pressure, surveillance,’’; and 

12 (B) by redesignating the second subsection 

13 (i) as subsection (j). 

14 SEC. 4. IMPOSITION OF SANCTIONS WITH RESPECT TO PER15 SONS RESPONSIBLE FOR THE COMMISSION 

16 OF GROSS VIOLATIONS OF INTERNATION17 ALLY RECOGNIZED HUMAN RIGHTS AGAINST 

18 JOURNALISTS. 

19 (a) IDENTIFICATION.— 

20 (1) IN GENERAL.—The President shall identify 

21 foreign persons that the President determines, based 

22 on credible information, have perpetrated, ordered, 

23 or otherwise directly or indirectly participated in the 

24 extrajudicial killing of or other gross violation of 

25 internationally recognized human rights committed 


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1 against a journalist or other person who performs, 

2 or provides administrative support to, the dissemina3 tion of print, broadcast, internet-based, or social 

4 media intended to report newsworthy activities or in5 formation or communicate facts or fact-based opin6 ions. 

7 (2) PUBLICATION OF LIST.—The Secretary of 

8 State shall— 

9 (A) publish on a publicly available website 

10 of the Department of State a list of each for11 eign person identified under paragraph (1); and 

12 (B) update that list not less frequently 

13 than annually. 

14 (b) IMPOSITION OF SANCTIONS.—The President shall 

15 impose the sanctions described in subsection (c) with re16 spect to each foreign person included in the list published 

17 under subsection (a)(2) on and after the date on which 

18 the person is first included in that list. 

19 (c) SANCTIONS DESCRIBED.—The sanctions de20 scribed in this subsection are the following: 

21 (1) ASSET BLOCKING.—The President shall ex22 ercise all of the powers granted to the President 

23 under the International Emergency Economic Pow24 ers Act (50 U.S.C. 1701 et seq.) to the extent nec25 essary to block and prohibit all transactions in propVerDate Sep 11 2014 03:22 Dec 16, 2020 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00006 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S4992.IS S4992

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1 erty and interests in property of a foreign person in2 cluded in the list published under subsection (a)(2) 

3 if such property and interests in property are in the 

4 United States, come within the United States, or are 

5 or come within the possession or control of a United 

6 States person. 

7 (2) INELIGIBILITY FOR VISAS, ADMISSION, OR

8 PAROLE.— 

9 (A) VISAS, ADMISSION, OR PAROLE.—An 

10 alien described in subsection (a)(1) is— 

11 (i) inadmissible to the United States; 

12 (ii) ineligible to receive a visa or other 

13 documentation to enter the United States; 

14 and 

15 (iii) otherwise ineligible to be admitted 

16 or paroled into the United States or to re17 ceive any other benefit under the Immigra18 tion and Nationality Act (8 U.S.C. 1101 et 

19 seq.). 

20 (B) CURRENT VISAS REVOKED.— 

21 (i) IN GENERAL.—An alien described 

22 in subsection (a)(1) is subject to revocation 

23 of any visa or other entry documentation 

24 regardless of when the visa or other entry 

25 documentation is or was issued. 


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1 (ii) IMMEDIATE EFFECT.—A revoca2 tion under clause (i) shall take effect im3 mediately and automatically cancel any 

4 other valid visa or entry documentation 

5 that is in the alien’s possession. 

6 (d) IMPLEMENTATION; PENALTIES.— 

7 (1) IMPLEMENTATION.—The President may ex8 ercise all authorities provided under sections 203 

9 and 205 of the International Emergency Economic 

10 Powers Act (50 U.S.C. 1702 and 1704) to carry out 

11 this section. 

12 (2) PENALTIES.—The penalties provided for in 

13 subsections (b) and (c) of section 206 of the Inter14 national Emergency Economic Powers Act (50 

15 U.S.C. 1705) shall apply to a person that violates, 

16 attempts to violate, conspires to violate, or causes a 

17 violation of this section to the same extent that such 

18 penalties apply to a person that commits an unlaw19 ful act described in subsection (a) of such section 

20 206. 

21 (e) WAIVER AND TERMINATION OF SANCTIONS.— 

22 (1) IN GENERAL.—The President may waive 

23 the requirement to include a foreign person on the 

24 list published under subsection (a)(2) and to impose 

25 sanctions with respect to that person, or may remove 


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1 a foreign person from the list and terminate any 

2 sanctions imposed with respect to that person, if the 

3 President submits to the Committee on Foreign Af4 fairs of the House of Representatives and the Com5 mittee on Foreign Relations of the Senate a certifi6 cation that— 

7 (A) the waiver or removal is in the na8 tional interest of the United States; or 

9 (B) appropriate foreign government offi10 cials have— 

11 (i) credibly and thoroughly inves12 tigated the foreign person and, as appro13 priate, brought the person to justice for 

14 perpetrating, ordering, or otherwise di15 rectly or indirectly participating in acts de16 scribed in subsection (a)(1); 

17 (ii) publicly condemned such acts and 

18 violations of freedom of the press; and 

19 (iii) complied with any requests from 

20 the United States Government for informa21 tion with respect to such acts. 

22 (2) FORM OF CERTIFICATION.—Each certifi23 cation submitted under paragraph (1)— 


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1 (A) shall be submitted in unclassified form 

2 and include an unclassified description of the 

3 factual basis supporting the certification; and 

4 (B) may include a classified annex. 

5 (f) EXCEPTIONS.— 

6 (1) EXCEPTION FOR INTELLIGENCE ACTIVI7 TIES.—The sanctions described in subsection (c) 

8 shall not apply to any activity subject to the report9 ing requirements under title V of the National Secu10 rity Act of 1947 (50 U.S.C. 3091 et seq.) or any au11 thorized intelligence activities of the United States. 

12 (2) EXCEPTION TO COMPLY WITH INTER13 NATIONAL OBLIGATIONS.—The sanctions described 

14 in subsection (c)(2) shall not apply with respect to 

15 an alien if admitting or paroling the alien into the 

16 United States is necessary to permit the United 

17 States to comply with the Agreement regarding the 

18 Headquarters of the United Nations, signed at Lake 

19 Success June 26, 1947, and entered into force No20 vember 21, 1947, between the United Nations and 

21 the United States, or other applicable international 

22 obligations. 

23 (3) EXCEPTION RELATING TO THE IMPORTA24 TION OF GOODS.— 


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1 (A) IN GENERAL.—The authorities and re2 quirements to impose sanctions under this sec3 tion shall not include any authority or require4 ment to impose sanctions on the importation of 

5 goods. 

6 (B) GOOD DEFINED.—In this subsection, 

7 the term ‘‘good’’ means any article, natural or 

8 manmade substance, material, supply, or manu9 factured product, including inspection and test 

10 equipment and excluding technical data. 

11 (g) DEFINITIONS.—In this section: 

12 (1) ADMITTED; ALIEN.—The terms ‘‘admitted’’ 

13 and ‘‘alien’’ have the meanings given those terms in 

14 section 101 of the Immigration and Nationality Act 

15 (8 U.S.C. 1101). 

16 (2) FOREIGN PERSON.—The term ‘‘foreign per17 son’’ means an individual who is not a United States 

18 citizen or an alien lawfully admitted for permanent 

19 residence to the United States. 

20 (3) GROSS VIOLATION OF INTERNATIONALLY

21 RECOGNIZED HUMAN RIGHTS.—The term ‘‘gross vio22 lation of internationally recognized human rights’’ 

23 has the meaning given that term in section 502B of 

24 the Foreign Assistance Act of 1961 (22 U.S.C. 

25 2304). 


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1 (4) UNITED STATES PERSON.—The term 

2 ‘‘United States person’’ means— 

3 (A) a United States citizen or an alien law4 fully admitted for permanent residence to the 

5 United States; 

6 (B) an entity organized under the laws of 

7 the United States or of any jurisdiction within 

8 the United States, including a foreign branch of 

9 such entity; or 

10 (C) any person in the United States. 

11 SEC. 5. PROHIBITION ON FOREIGN ASSISTANCE. 

12 (a) PROHIBITION.—Assistance authorized under the 

13 Foreign Assistance Act of 1961 (22 U.S.C. 2151 et seq.) 

14 or the Arms Export Control Act (22 U.S.C. 2751 et seq.) 

15 may not be made available to any governmental entity of 

16 a country if the Secretary of State or the Director of Na17 tional Intelligence has credible information that one or 

18 more senior officials acting under the authority of such 

19 entity has committed, ordered, or otherwise directly or in20 directly participated in a gross violation of internationally 

21 recognized human rights against a journalist or other per22 son who performs, or provides administrative support to, 

23 the dissemination of print, broadcast, internet-based, or 

24 social media intended to report newsworthy activities or 

25 information, or communicate facts or fact-based opinions. 


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1 To the maximum extent practicable, a list of such govern2 mental entities shall be published on publicly available 

3 websites of the Department of State and of the Office of 

4 the Director of National Intelligence and shall be updated 

5 on a regular basis. 

6 (b) PROMPT INFORMATION.—The Secretary of State 

7 shall promptly inform appropriate officials of the govern8 ment of a country from which assistance is withheld in 

9 accordance with the prohibition under subsection (a). 

10 (c) EXCEPTION.—The prohibition under subsection 

11 (a) shall not apply with respect to the following: 

12 (1) Humanitarian assistance or disaster relief 

13 authorized under the Foreign Assistance Act of 

14 1961. 

15 (2) Assistance the Secretary determines would 

16 assist the government of a country to bring the re17 sponsible members of the relevant governmental en18 tity to justice for the acts described in subsection 

19 (a). 

20 (d) WAIVER.— 

21 (1) IN GENERAL.—The President may waive 

22 the prohibition under subsection (a) with respect to 

23 a governmental entity of a country if— 

24 (A) the President, acting through the Sec25 retary of State and the Director of National InVerDate Sep 11 2014 03:22 Dec 16, 2020 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00013 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S4992.IS S4992

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1 telligence, determines that such a waiver is in 

2 the national interest of the United States; or 

3 (B) the Secretary of State has received 

4 credible information that the government of 

5 that country has— 

6 (i) performed a credible and thorough 

7 investigation of the acts described in sub8 section (a) and is taking effective steps to 

9 bring responsible members of the relevant 

10 governmental entity to justice; 

11 (ii) condemned violations of freedom 

12 of the press and the acts described in sub13 section (a); and 

14 (iii) complied with United States Gov15 ernment requests for information with re16 spect to the acts described in subsection 

17 (a). 

18 (2) CERTIFICATION.—A waiver described in 

19 paragraph (1) may only take effect if— 

20 (A) the President certifies, not later than 

21 30 days before the effective date of the waiver, 

22 to the Committee on Foreign Affairs and the 

23 Committee on Appropriations of the House of 

24 Representatives and the Committee on Foreign 

25 Relations and the Committee on Appropriations 


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1 of the Senate that such waiver is warranted and 

2 includes an unclassified description of the fac3 tual basis supporting the certification, which 

4 may contain a classified annex; and 

5 (B) the Director of National Intelligence, 

6 not later than 30 days before the effective date 

7 of the waiver, submits to the Permanent Select 

8 Committee on Intelligence of the House of Rep9 resentatives and the Select Committee on Intel10 ligence of the Senate a report detailing any un11 derlying information that the intelligence com12 munity (as such term is defined in section 3 of 

13 the National Security Act of 1947 (50 U.S.C. 

14 3003)) has regarding the perpetrators of the 

15 acts described in subsection (a), which shall be 

16 submitted in unclassified form but may contain 

17 a classified annex. 

Æ 


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