The U.S. will deny entry to 16 Saudis over “their roles” in the murder of the columnist Jamal Khashoggi, as the administration seeks to sustain pressure on the kingdom to come up with a credible account of his death, the State Department announced on Monday.
The 16 people, including Saud al-Qahtani, a senior adviser to Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, had already been sanctioned by the U.S. over Khashoggi’s death. Monday’s action was done under the 2019 State Department appropriations bill, which requires Secretary of State Michael Pompeo to refuse entry to individuals and immediate family members if he has information that they’ve been “involved in significant corruption or gross violations of human rights.”
