Canada might follow U.S. lead in sanctioning Saudis in Khashoggi case: Freeland
PORT COLBORNE, Ont. — Canada might follow a U.S. decision to put personal sanctions on Saudi Arabian officials allegedly involved in killing journalist Jamal Khashoggi in Turkey last month, Foreign Affairs Minister Chrystia Freeland says.
The United States announced Thursday it would use its “Magnitsky law” to go after 17 people. They include the Saudi consul-general in Turkey, Mohammed al-Otaibi. Khashoggi, a critic of the Saudi monarchy, was last seen going into the consulate in Istanbul that al-Otaibi ran.
Magnitsky laws are named for a Russian accountant killed in prison after exposing corruption among Russian tax officials. They let governments freeze people’s assets and restrict their travel.
“We are very aware of the U.S. sanctions on certain Saudi individuals and we have been in close contact with the U.S. about those Magnitsky sanctions,” Freeland said Thursday afternoon, visiting a factory in Port Colborne, Ont. “Canada welcomes the U.S. actions. When it comes to Canada, we also do have Magnitsky legislation in place and that is a tool which we have found very useful in our foreign policy and that is certainly something which, in the coming days, Canada is actively considering.”