Last week, Rep. John Curtis (R-UT), member of the House Foreign Affairs Committee, joined a group of his colleagues in sending a letter to Secretary Mike Pompeo, imploring the State Department to investigate the arrests of women's rights activists in Saudi Arabia. “We must uphold our commitment to human rights, both domestically and internationally,” said Curtis. “I join my colleagues on the House Foreign Affairs Committee in urging Secretary Pompeo to demonstrate our nation’s commitment to our values by investigating these allegations of horrific torture and abuse.” The full text of the letter can be found below: The Honorable Michael Pompeo Secretary U.S. Department of State 2201 C St NW Washington, DC 20520 Dear Secretary Pompeo, We write to follow up on an August 14 letter regarding the arrest of women’s rights activists in Saudi Arabia and our request for the State Department to publicly support these activists who have been imprisoned since May, discuss their release with Saudi officials, and prioritize women and human rights as a key component of the relationship between the United States and Saudi Arabia. We are deeply troubled by recent reports that several of these imprisoned activists have been subjected to psychological and physical abuse, including sexual violence, beatings, electric shocks, and sleep deprivation. According to the Washington Post, many individuals are reluctant to come forward with evidence of this abuse as they fear retaliation by authorities. We strongly urge you to investigate the serious allegations detailed in these reports. While we understand you have undertaken some diplomatic measures to bring concerns about the detention of these women’s rights activists to the attention of Saudi officials, not enough is being done to hold Saudi Arabia accountable or to encourage Riyadh to implement meaningful change. Though the United States and Saudi Arabia share broad interests, including defeating ISIS and regional stability and we support the stated goals of Crown Prince Muhammad bin Salman’s proposed modernization initiatives, the Saudi government’s continued detainment and potential abuse of women’s rights activists, sustained oppression of women through the discriminatory male guardianship system, restrictions on civil freedom of speech, and archaic apostasy laws cause us to question whether the Crown Prince truly intends to promote equality or modernization.

Our efforts to advance shared strategic interests in our foreign policy and in relationships with foreign governments must be rooted in our values. As members of the House Foreign Affairs Committee, we will continue to monitor and conduct oversight related to these troubling reports. We urge the State Department to demonstrate our nation’s commitment to our values by investigating allegations of torture and abuse, documenting relevant details in future annual Human Rights Reports, and continuing to publicly and privately issue statements of support for the imprisoned activists. Finally, Congress expects the administration to consider these allegations, along with other troubling human rights abuses, including missiles strikes by the Saudi-led coalition in Yemen and the murder of journalist Jamal Khashoggi, as it examines the nature of our relationship with Saudi Arabia.

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