[Congressional Bills 110th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H. Res. 1008 Introduced in House (IH)]







110th CONGRESS
  2d Session
H. RES. 1008

             Condemning the persecution of Baha'is in Iran.


_______________________________________________________________________


                    IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

                           February 28, 2008

 Mr. Kirk (for himself, Mr. Andrews, Mr. Wilson of South Carolina, Mr. 
Wexler, Mr. Wolf, Mr. Cantor, and Mr. McNulty) submitted the following 
   resolution; which was referred to the Committee on Foreign Affairs

_______________________________________________________________________

                               RESOLUTION


 
             Condemning the persecution of Baha'is in Iran.

Whereas in 1982, 1984, 1988, 1990, 1992, 1994, 1996, 2000, and 2006, Congress 
        declared that it deplored the religious persecution by the Government of 
        Iran of the Baha'i community and would hold the Government of Iran 
        responsible for upholding the rights of all Iranian nationals, including 
        members of the Baha'i faith;
Whereas on March 20, 2006, the United Nations Special Rapporteur on freedom of 
        religion or belief, Asma Jahangir, revealed the existence of a 
        confidential letter dated October 29, 2005, from the chairman of the 
        command headquarters of Iran's Armed Forces to the Ministry of 
        Information, the Revolutionary Guard, and the police force, stating the 
        Supreme Leader, Ayatollah Khamenei, instructed the command headquarters 
        to identify members of the Baha'i faith in Iran and monitor their 
        activities;
Whereas the United Nations Special Rapporteur expressed ``grave concern and 
        apprehension'' about the implications of this letter for the safety of 
        the Baha'i community;
Whereas in May 2006, 54 Baha'is were arrested in Shiraz and held for several 
        days without trial in the largest roundup of Baha'is since the 1980s;
Whereas in August 2006, the Iranian Ministry of the Interior ordered provincial 
        officials to ``cautiously and carefully monitor and manage'' all Baha'i 
        social activities;
Whereas in 2006, the Central Security Office of Iran's Ministry of Science, 
        Research, and Technology ordered 81 Iranian universities to expel any 
        student discovered to be a Baha'i;
Whereas in November 2006, a letter issued by Payame Noor University stated that 
        it is Iranian policy to prevent Baha'is from enrolling in universities 
        and to expel Baha'i upon discovery;
Whereas in 2007, more than two-thirds of the Baha'is enrolled in universities 
        were expelled upon identification as a Baha'i;
Whereas in February 2007, police in Tehran and surrounding towns entered Baha'i 
        homes and businesses to collect details on family members;
Whereas in April 2007, the Iranian Public Intelligence and Security Force 
        ordered 25 industries to deny business licences to Baha'is;
Whereas in 2006 and 2007, the Iranian Ministry of Information pressured 
        employers to fire Baha'i employees and instructed banks to refuse to 
        provide loans to Baha'i-owned businesses;
Whereas in July 2007, a Baha'i cemetery was destroyed by earthmoving equipment 
        in Yazd, and in September 2007, a Baha'i cemetery was bulldozed outside 
        of Najafabad, erasing the memory of those Iranian citizens;
Whereas in November 2007, the Iranian Ministry of Information in Shiraz detained 
        Baha'is Ms. Raha Sabet, 33; Mr. Sasan Taqva, 32; and Ms. Haleh Roohi, 
        29, for educating underprivileged children;
Whereas Mr. Taqva reportedly was detained while suffering from an injured leg 
        which required medical attention;
Whereas on January 23, 2008, the State Department released a statement urging 
        the Iranian regime to release all individuals held without due process 
        and a fair trial, including the 3 young Baha'is being held in an Iranian 
        Ministry of Intelligence detention center in Shiraz;
Whereas the Government of Iran is party to the International Covenants on Human 
        Rights; and
Whereas in December 2007, the Iranian Parliament published a draft Islamic penal 
        code, which violates Iran's commitment under the International Covenants 
        on Human Rights by requiring the death penalty for ``apostates'', a term 
        applied to Baha'is and any convert from Islam: Now, therefore, be it
    Resolved, That the House of Representatives--
            (1) condemns the Government of Iran for its state-sponsored 
        persecution of Baha'is, calls on the Government of Iran to 
        immediately cease activities aimed at the repression of the 
        Iranian Baha'i community, and continues to hold the Government 
        of Iran responsible for upholding all the rights of its 
        nationals, including members of the Baha'i community;
            (2) condemns the Government of Iran's continued 
        imprisonment of individuals without due process and a fair 
        trial;
            (3) calls on the Government of Iran to immediately release 
        3 Baha'is: Ms. Raha Sabet, Mr. Sasan Taqva, and Ms. Haleh 
        Roohi; and
            (4) calls on the Government of Iran and the Iranian 
        Parliament to reject a draft Islamic penal code, which violates 
        Iran's commitments under the International Covenants on Human 
        Rights.
                                 <all>