U.S. imposes sanctions on 17 Saudis

WASHINGTON » The Trump administration and Saudi Arabia each took steps Thursday to punish those they said were involved in the killing of Saudi journalist Jamal Khashoggi, but U. S. lawmakers and other critics said the moves did not go far enough.

Many in Congress have accused the administration of placing its desire to maintain close relations with Saudi Arabia — particularly with its senior leadership — above a serious response to the Khashoggi case and the war in Yemen, where U.S.-aided Saudi air- strikes have killed thousands of civilians and caused widespread starvation.

A sweeping proposal to increase congressional oversight and suspend U.S. weapons sales to the Saudis was introduced Thursday by a bipartisan group of senior senators.

That measure followed sanctions imposed by the Treasury Department on 17 Saudis who Secretary Steven Mnuchin said “targeted and brutally killed a journalist who resided and worked in the United States.”

Just hours earlier in Riyadh, the public prosecutor released a report saying 11 Saudi citizens had been indicted in the crime, which took place when Khashoggi visited the Saudi Consulate in Istanbul on Oct. 2. It said authorities would seek the death penalty against five of those charged.

Providing a new description of the killing - which the Saudis initially denied took place and later said was the result of a fistfight — the prosecutor said Khashoggi was given a lethal injection by Saudi agents who had orders only to bring him to Saudi Arabia through persuasion or, if necessary, with force.