Congressional Democrats are calling on the Biden administration to sanction Israeli cybersurveillance firm NSO Group following a slew of reports implicating the company’s spyware in the targeting of dissidents around the world. 

Reuters reports that 18 Democratic lawmakers including Senate Finance Committee Chairman Ron Wyden and House Intelligence Committee Chairman Adam Schiff sent a letter late Tuesday to the Treasury Department and State Department asking for Global Magnitsky sanctions, which freeze US-held funds and ban travel into the United States. 

The lawmakers recommended sanctions on senior executives at the Israeli firm, as well as Emirati cybersecurity company DarkMatter and European online bulk surveillance companies Nexa Technologies and Trovicor, the news agency reports. 

"To meaningfully punish them and send a clear signal to the surveillance technology industry, the US government should deploy financial sanctions," the letter says, adding that the four companies facilitated the “disappearance, torture and murder of human rights activists and journalists.”