Wyden presses Biden to demand accountability for victims of Mohammed bin Salman’s violence

Sen. Ron Wyden (D-Ore.) released a statement on Tuesday calling on President Biden to address Saudi Arabian Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman’s poor human rights record when they meet next month.

Wyden’s press release said that he is urging Biden “to insist on accountability for those responsible for the brutal murder of Washington Post journalist Jamal Khashoggi and the killing of Portland’s Fallon Smart and other victims of Saudi citizens who have fled U.S. justice.”

Khashoggi was killed in October 2018 at the Saudi Consulate in Istanbul after writing columns in the Post criticizing the crown prince. The following month, the CIA found that Khashoggi’s murder was ordered by Crown Prince Mohammed.

Oregon native 15-year-old Fallon Smart was hit by a speeding Saudi driver in 2016, according to CBS News coverage of the incident. The 20-year-old driver, who was attending university in Oregon, fled back to his home country with unknown assistance after being arrested and has not faced any penalties for his wrongdoing.

In his statement, Wyden, who is a senior member of the Senate Select Committee on Intelligence, criticized Biden’s plan to “reset” relations with Saudi Arabia without first demanding justice in such cases.

“The United States cannot value Saudi oil more highly than the blood of Fallon Smart and Jamal Khashoggi,” said Wyden.

Biden plans to meet with Crown Prince Mohammed in Saudi Arabia during a trip to the Middle East from July 13 to 16.

“While we recalibrate relations, we’re not seeking to rupture relations, because Saudi Arabia has been a strategic partner of the United States for eight decades,” said a White House senior official of the meeting.

The U.S. has partnered with Saudi Arabia in an alliance against Iran, and many lawmakers believe that stable relations with the country will help protect Americans from terrorism originating from the Middle East.

Wyden, however, noted the crown prince’s record of protecting perpetrators of violence and manipulating oil markets as evidence that the U.S. will not “become more secure by legitimizing authoritarians” like the Saudi prince.

“Embracing MBS only makes our people more vulnerable to the whims of tyrants, who will always place their unfettered power above international rule of law or American justice,” he said.

Wyden has been an outspoken voice against human rights abuses in Saudi Arabia, including in early 2020 when he successfully pushed to declassify a report regarding Khashoggi’s murder and in early 2019 when he called on tech companies to remove from their platforms an app used by Saudi men to track women.

The senator’s office said that “Wyden also successfully pressed the executive branch to release classified information confirming that the Saudi government helped its citizens flee the United States after being charged with violent crimes, including the manslaughter of Portland teenager Fallon Smart.”

Wyden spoke to CBS News’s “60 Minutes” in late 2020 about the U.S. response to Smart’s killing, saying, “I just don’t buy the idea that fighting terrorism and securing justice are mutually exclusive. Our government ought to be doing both.”

Biden next month is also set to visit Israel, in his first trip to the country as president.