US Senate Foreign Relations chairman offers human rights bill on Saudi Arabia

WASHINGTON: The US Senate Foreign Relations Committee’s Republican chairman, Senator Jim Risch, introduced legislation seeking to push back on Saudi Arabia over human rights and criticizing Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, but not by stopping weapons sales. The bill, released on Wednesday, is the latest effort in Congress to hold the kingdom accountable for rights abuses, including the murder of Saudi journalist Jamal Khashoggi. “It is the sense of Congress that, since the promotion of Mohammed bin Salman to the position of Crown Prince with significant authorities over foreign and domestic affairs of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, the government of Saudi Arabia has demonstrated increasingly erratic and disturbing conduct,” the bill’s text says. (Reuters)