London, 8 September 2020 By Email:
[email protected] [email protected] For the attention of The Rt. Hon. Dominic Raab MP, Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Affairs Dear Secretary of State, Request to designate Mr. Mohammed BIN SALMAN, Crown Prince of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, under Regulation 5, Global Human Rights Sanctions Regulations 2020, as an “involved person” in the unlawful killing of Mr. Jamal KHASHOGGI The Open Society Justice Initiative welcomes the UK’s Global Human Rights Sanctions Regulations 2020. The Secretary of State should be commended on this important milestone for human rights accountability, and on his commitment to the “long struggle against impunity for the very worst human rights violations”.1 1 The Rt. Hon. Dominic Raab MP, Statement to Parliament, HC Deb, 6 July 2020, Vol. 678, Col. 664 available at: https://hansard.parliament.uk/commons/2020-07-06/debates/24B78A01-061C-48A8- AA92-8E53C17516E3/GlobalHumanRightsSanctionsRegime. Open Society Justice Initiative is part of Open Society Foundation London, a company limited by guarantee, registered in England and Wales (company number 10187396). The first designations under the Global Human Rights Sanctions Regulations, announced on 6 July 2020, underline the Secretary of State’s commitment to “defend[ing] media freedoms, protect[ing] freedom of religion and […] hold[ing] to account the perpetrators of the worst human rights abuses”.2 We welcome, in this context, the inclusion of 20 Saudi nationals for their role in the brutal murder of Saudi journalist, Mr. Jamal Khashoggi.3 However, it is unclear why the Crown Prince of Saudi Arabia, Mr.