In a letter sent by a group of American legislators to the Treasury and State Departments, they asked that the Israeli group N.S.O. be punished for espionage programs and three other foreign companies that they say have helped authoritarian governments commit rights violations now.

In their letter, sent to the two ministries late last night, lawmakers also demand the punishment of senior executives of N.S.O., the United Arab Emirates Internet security company Dark Mater and the European Internet security companies Nixa Technologies and Troficor.

Lawmakers demanded sanctions under the Global Magnetsky Act, which punishes those accused of facilitating human rights violations by freezing their accounts and preventing them from travelling to the United States.

The address was signed by Ron Wyden, Chairman of the Senate Finance Committee, Adam Schiff, Chairman of the House Intelligence Committee and 16 Democratic legislators. They referred to a recent report published by Reuters this month, along with reports from other sources, that showed that a spy program produced by N.S.O. was used against U.S. State Department employees in Aug.

Lawmakers said the espionage industry depends on investments and U.S. banks. "To punish them effectively and send a clear message to the surveillance technology sector, the United States Government must impose financial sanctions," they wrote in the speech.

The speech said that these companies facilitated the "disappearance, torture and murder of human rights activists and journalists." Surveillance companies are coming under increasing scrutiny from Washington after a wave of media reports linking them to human rights violations.

"These surveillance mercenaries sold their services to authoritarian regimes with a long record of human rights violations, giving tyrants extensive spying capabilities," Wyden said. "It is expected that these States will have used surveillance tools to arrest, torture and kill journalists and human rights activists."

In November, the U.S. Department of Commerce placed N.S.O. on a so-called "list of entities" to prevent American suppliers from selling programs and services to the Israeli company without a permit.