U.S. Sen. Tom Cotton bill targets foreign hostage takers

They would be treated as outlaws, kin banned from travel to U.S., he says

FILE — U.S. Sen. Tom Cotton, R-Ark., is interviewed by reporters at the Capitol in Washington, Jan. 25, 2018.
FILE — U.S. Sen. Tom Cotton, R-Ark., is interviewed by reporters at the Capitol in Washington, Jan. 25, 2018.

WASHINGTON -- When American-flag-burning students overran the U.S. Embassy in Tehran, Iran, in 1979, Masoumeh "Mary" Ebtekar was the hostage takers' spokeswoman, railing against the United States and extolling the virtues of her country's new supreme leader, Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini.

Despite her past and her position as an Iranian vice president, her son would go on to live and study "right here in America -- the heart of the 'Great Satan,'" U.S. Sen. Tom Cotton told a Hudson Institute audience Thursday.

Ebtekar's son didn't slip through the cracks, the Republican from Dardanelle said. There simply weren't any laws to prevent him from coming here, Cotton said.

The Global Hostage Act of 2019, which Cotton introduced last month, would make it easier to punish hostage takers and their families, targeting their assets and denying them travel privileges to the United States, he said.

If it becomes law, it would create a mechanism for imposing "mandatory sanctions on foreign kidnappers, hostage takers and their associates," Cotton said.

American citizens have been targeted by hostile nations including Iran, Syria and Venezuela, Cotton said.

Officials who improperly detain U.S. citizens would no longer be able to obtain U.S. visas. Their parents, children and extended relatives would also be blocked from entering the country.

The proposed law would also prevent these individuals from conducting banking transactions in the U.S., Cotton said.

"No foreign official who abuses American citizens and imposes pain and hardship and loss on American families should have a family who can benefit from our open society," he said.

The bill, if it becomes law, would "usher in a world where hostage takers are treated as outlaws and pariahs, confined to their home countries, barred from the privileges of American life, with their families suffering just a small bit of the deprivation felt by the families of American hostages," Cotton said. "It would make the world safer for America's travelers, for businessmen seeking markets overseas, missionaries spreading the light of the gospel in foreign lands, [and] to newcomers visiting their family [around] the world."

The law wouldn't rely on the State Department alone to monitor hostage takers. Members of Congress could request sanctions, prompting a speedy review, he added.

At Thursday's forum, Hudson Institute senior fellow Michael Doran, a former National Security Council senior director, called the Global Hostage Act "an incredibly elegant piece of legislation, both moral and strategic."

The crowd that greeted Cotton on Thursday included relatives of University of Arkansas at Little Rock alumnus Majd Kamalmaz, a psychotherapist who was detained by the regime of President Bashar Assad during a visit to Syria.

Kamalmaz's sister, three nieces and one nephew met with Cotton shortly before the speech.

Born in Syria, Kamalmaz immigrated to the U.S. as a child and eventually became a U.S. citizen.

After the war began in Syria, he helped establish a mental health clinic in Lebanon for refugees from the Syrian conflict. He was detained during a brief visit to his former country in February 2017. His family has been trying to free him ever since.

Hadi Hamwi, Kamalmaz's nephew, said he was glad to see Cotton's legislation introduced.

"Many Americans could benefit from [this] legislation," Hamwi said.

Cotton said Kamalmaz won't be forgotten.

"In addition to our sadness, we have resolve. We have resolve to bring Majd back home just like we're resolved to bring every American who is currently being held hostage back home," Cotton said in an interview.

Metro on 12/06/2019

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