President Joe Biden on Friday announced a visa ban on 76 Saudi nationals over their roles in the murder of the late journalist, Jamal Khashoggi.
The ban was an aftermath of a United States intelligence report which accused the Saudi Crown Prince, Mohammed bin Salman, of approving and giving tacit support to the 2018 gruesome murder of Khashoggi.
The killed journalist was a former Washington Post columnist who reports had it that he was killed and allegedly dismembered on October 2, 2018, in the Saudi consulate in Istanbul, Turkey, by men said to be connected with the top levels of the Saudi government and the Crown Prince.
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Khashoggi was also believed to be a strong critic of Saudi Arabia and Mohammed bin Salman’s policies.
But the US Secretary of State, Antony Blinken, who announced the measure described as the ‘Khashoggi Ban,’ alleged that the affected individuals were involved in ‘threatening dissidents overseas, including but not limited to the Khashoggi killing.’
Blinken explained that the ban was part of measures by the US government to ‘reinforce the world’s condemnation of that crime’.
He added that the new policy was aimed at stopping governments that ‘reach beyond their borders to threaten and attack journalists and perceived dissidents for exercising their fundamental freedoms’.
He continued, ‘As a matter of safety for all within our borders, perpetrators targeting perceived dissidents on behalf of any foreign government should not be permitted to reach American soil. I also have directed that the State Department fully report on any such extraterritorial activities by any government in our annual Country Reports on Human Rights Practices.
‘The United States will continue to shine a light on any government that targets individuals, either domestically or extraterritorially, merely for exercising their human rights and fundamental freedoms,’.
According to the declassified report, released by the US Director of National Intelligence on Friday, the Saudi prince approved the capture or killing of the late journalist, the News Agency of Nigeria said on Friday.
Blinken said though the US would continue to invest in its relationship with Saudi Arabia, the partnership must reflect US values.
AFRICA TODAY NEWS, NEW YORK