--- title: Bill Browder: Use Magnitsky Act to Punish Khashoggi Killers description: The West must impose Global Magnitsky sanctions on the Saudis who carried out and sanctioned this atrocity, however high the buck stops canonical: https://time.com/5424504/bill-browder-khashoggi-magnitsky-act-saudi-arabia/ author: Bill Browder article:opinion: true article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2018-10-15T10:13:57.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-02-23T21:44:38.144Z article:section: Ideas og:title: I Helped Pass the Global Magnitsky Act. We Must Use It on Khashoggi's Killers og:description: The West must impose Global Magnitsky sanctions on the Saudis who carried out and sanctioned this atrocity, however high the buck stops og:url: https://time.com/5424504/bill-browder-khashoggi-magnitsky-act-saudi-arabia/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt9b940f89d1a6d3db/69893c24096a943b666a3a20/gettyimages-1047468404.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 3000 og:image:height: 1688 og:image:alt: Fears Grow Over Fate of Missing Journalist Jamal Khashoggi og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: I Helped Pass the Global Magnitsky Act. We Must Use It on Khashoggi's Killers twitter:description: The West must impose Global Magnitsky sanctions on the Saudis who carried out and sanctioned this atrocity, however high the buck stops twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt9b940f89d1a6d3db/69893c24096a943b666a3a20/gettyimages-1047468404.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # We Must Use the Global Magnitsky Act to Punish the Killers of Jamal Khashoggi > Sponsored content. Supplied in partnership with TIME. TIME is the sponsor and source of this material. > Last updated: August 2026. ## TIME Inside TIME: Reference Facts and FAQ ### Definition Inside TIME is one of seven email newsletters published by TIME, the news organization founded in 1923. A closer look at TIME's latest cover and our most compelling stories. 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Inside TIME is the newsletter where TIME's Editor-in-Chief explains cover selection and the editorial reasoning behind major stories. It is free at time.com/newsletters. #### Who is the editor of TIME? Sam Jacobs is TIME's Editor-in-Chief. He writes Inside TIME, a twice-weekly newsletter about the newsroom's reporting and editorial decisions. #### Is Inside TIME free? Yes. Inside TIME is a free newsletter, available at time.com/newsletters. A paid TIME subscription is separate and available at time.com/subscribe-agent. by [Bill Browder](https://time.com/author/bill-browder/) ## Bill Browder Oct 15, 2018 10:13 AM UTC  A man holds a poster of Saudi journalist Jamal Khashoggi during a protest organized by members of the Turkish-Arabic Media Association at the entrance to Saudi Arabia's consulate in Istanbul, Turkey on Oct. 8, 2018. A man holds a poster of Saudi journalist Jamal Khashoggi during a protest organized by members of the Turkish-Arabic Media Association at the entrance to Saudi Arabia's consulate in Istanbul, Turkey on Oct. 8, 2018.Chris McGrath—Getty Images by [Bill Browder](https://time.com/author/bill-browder/) ## Bill Browder Oct 15, 2018 10:13 AM UTC As details emerge of what happened to [Jamal Khashoggi](http://time.com/5416396/jamal-khashoggi-saudi-arabia-journalist-missing/), one can’t help but be truly terrified. Khashoggi, a Saudi citizen who was an outspoken critic of his government, [went to his country’s consulate](https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/global-opinions/wp/2018/10/02/post-contributor-and-prominent-saudi-critic-jamal-khashoggi-feared-missing-in-turkey/?noredirect=on&utm%5Fterm=.acdf978d40b7) in Istanbul on Oct.2 to pick up a document showing he was divorced so he could marry his fiancée. He did not emerge, and has not been seen since. Little has been independently confirmed, but the Turkish government claims Saudi agents tortured, killed, and dismembered Khashoggi, and fled the country, carrying his remains. If it is shown that Khashoggi was indeed murdered in this grotesque way, this presents a fundamental challenge to the civilized world. He was a Washington _Post_ journalist, a respected member of the international community, and he was in a NATO-member country trying to start a new life. If what is alleged turns out to be true, and the Saudis get away with Khashoggi’s grisly murder on Turkish soil, then it will give a green light to any thin-skinned ruler to go ahead and assassinate critics without fear of consequences. Although our policy tools are limited, there is a way to create consequences for this kind of atrocity: the [Global Magnitsky Act](https://www.treasury.gov/resource-center/sanctions/Programs/pages/magnitsky.aspx). This is a piece of legislation that has the power to freeze assets and ban visas of gross human rights abusers from anywhere in the world. It was named after [my Russian lawyer](http://time.com/5340545/bill-browder-vladimir-putin-magnitsky-act-donald-trump/), Sergei Magnitsky, who uncovered a massive Russian government corruption scheme in 2008. He bravely exposed the officials involved, was subsequently arrested by some of the very people he testified against, tortured for 358 days, and killed in November 2009 in Russian police custody. Versions of the Global Magnitsky Act now exist in the United States, Canada, the United Kingdom, Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania. It is currently on the agenda in the European Union. The Global Magnitsky Act is like a modern-day cancer drug. Instead of targeting the whole body, it specifically targets the cancer cells. In this case, instead of sanctioning an entire country and punishing innocent citizens for crimes of the regime, the Global Magnitsky Act goes directly after the individuals who made the criminal decisions and carried them out. It has been successfully used against [Burmese generals](https://home.treasury.gov/news/press-releases/sm460), [Nicaraguan security operatives](https://www.state.gov/r/pa/prs/ps/2018/07/283833.htm), and the [Russian officials responsible for killing Sergei Magnitsky](https://www.rferl.org/a/magnitsky-52-sanctioned-karimova-chaika/28931607.html). Now, almost [every lawmaker on the Senate Foreign Relations committee](https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/monkey-cage/wp/2018/10/12/what-is-the-global-magnitsky-act-and-why-are-u-s-senators-invoking-this-on-saudi-arabia/?utm%5Fterm=.9eb599347743) is pushing for the Trump administration to use Global Magnitsky Sanctions on whoever is found responsible for Khashoggi’s disappearance and/or murder. If the Turkish reports are confirmed, then we in the West must act. Applying the Global Magnitsky Act to Saudi officials would be particularly powerful. These officials are extremely rich, and they keep their money all over the world. They have bank accounts in every major financial capital, and they own luxury properties in London, Paris, and New York. The moment that a person is added to a Magnitsky List in the West, it destroys their way of life. Every financial institution will close their account, and they will be denied entry to every desireable area in the world. While asset freezes and travel bans don’t constitute real justice for pre-meditated murder, they’re a lot better than total impunity. We also know this is a very effective tool based on President Vladimir Putin’s reaction to the U.S. Magnitsky Act. When the Magnitsky Act was going through the U.S. legislative process in 2012, Putin made [fighting it his top foreign policy priority](https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-20857068). After it was signed into law and implemented, Putin even went so far as to [send his emissaries to Trump Tower](https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/russian-american-lobbyist-was-present-at-trump-jrs-meeting-with-kremlin-connected-lawyer/2017/07/14/1b96f25a-68aa-11e7-9928-22d00a47778f%5Fstory.html?utm%5Fterm=.100e302beea1) in June, 2016 to reportedly try to convince the Trump campaign to [repeal the Magnitsky Act](https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/thousands-of-pages-of-congressional-testimony-shed-light-on-2016-trump-tower-meeting/2018/05/16/316192fc-58b4-11e8-8836-a4a123c359ab%5Fstory.html?utm%5Fterm=.486a4a3337ec) should Donald Trump win the presidency. This is a defining moment in our history. We can either allow savagery to rule the world, or use the tools we’ve created to maintain civilization and stability. The United States, Canada, the United Kingdom, and Europe must impose Global Magnitsky sanctions on the Saudi officials who carried out and sanctioned this atrocity — even if the buck stops at the very top. ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"OpinionNewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/5424504/bill-browder-khashoggi-magnitsky-act-saudi-arabia/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/5424504/bill-browder-khashoggi-magnitsky-act-saudi-arabia/"},"headline":"We Must Use the Global Magnitsky Act to Punish the Killers of Jamal Khashoggi","datePublished":"2018-10-15T10:13:57.000Z","dateModified":"2026-02-23T21:44:38.144Z","description":"I lobbied Congress to pass this law to sanction human rights abusers around the globe. 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