President Donald Trump on Friday signed into law a bill that forces U.S. intelligence officials to disclose what they know about the Saudi government’s suspected role in whisking its citizens out of the United States to escape criminal prosecution.

The legislation, introduced by U.S. Sen. Ron Wyden of Oregon, was part of a $1.4 trillion spending deal passed by Congress this week to avert a government shutdown.

It requires the director of the FBI — in coordination with the nation’s intelligence director — to declassify all information in its possession related to how Saudi Arabia may have helped accused lawbreakers leave the U.S.

The agency has 30 days to do so, according to newly enacted measure.

President Donald Trump on Friday, Dec. 20, signed the Saudi Fugitives Declassification Act, which was part of a $1.4 trillion spending deal reached by Congress.

“It is long past time to stop treating Saudi Arabia as if it were above the law,” Wyden, a Democrat, said in a statement. “My bill will finally force the federal government to cough up any information it may have about how the Saudi government may have assisted its citizens from fleeing beyond the reach of the U.S. justice system.”

The action in Washington comes nearly a year after an investigation by The Oregonian/OregonLive found multiple cases where Saudi students studying throughout the U.S. vanished while facing sex crime and other felony charges.

[Read The Oregonian/OregonLive’s investigative series “Fleeing Justice."]

The news organization revealed criminal cases involving at least seven Saudi nationals who disappeared from Oregon before they faced trial or completed their jail sentence on charges ranging from rape to manslaughter, including those who had surrendered their passports to authorities.

The investigation also found similar cases in at least seven other states — Montana, Ohio, Oklahoma, Pennsylvania, Utah, Washington and Wisconsin — and Canada, bringing the total number of known Saudi suspects who have escaped to 25. Some date back 30 years, suggesting the Saudi government had spent decades helping its citizens flee, subverting the criminal justice system and leaving untold numbers of victims without any recourse.

The United States and Saudi Arabia don’t share an extradition treaty. That makes the return of any Saudi suspect who has left the U.S. unlikely, if not impossible, without diplomatic or political pressure.

In April, a story co-published by The Oregonian/OregonLive and ProPublica showed how the FBI, the U.S. Department of Homeland Security and other agencies have been aware of Saudi officials helping their country’s citizens avoid prosecution since at least 2008 yet never intervened.

The Saudi Embassy in Washington, D.C., has said that, as a policy, the Saudi government will cover the cost of bail for any citizen jailed in the U.S. who asks for assistance.

The kingdom also denies playing any role in helping Saudi citizens escape.

Wyden and fellow Oregon U.S. Sen. Jeff Merkley, also a Democrat, have spent most of this year publicly raising concerns over the Saudi disappearances and demanding action from the Trump administration.

The pair co-sponsored bills that would have required the federal government to investigate the disappearances and to impose sanctions against any Saudi diplomat or official found to have assisted Saudi fugitives. Those measures never advanced in the Senate.

“When anyone commits a crime, they must be held fully accountable,” Merkley said in a statement. “Getting this bill across the finish line is a good first step to bring to light who knew what and when.”

-- Shane Dixon Kavanaugh; 503-294-7632

Email at skavanaugh@oregonian.com

Follow on Twitter @shanedkavanaugh

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