[Congressional Bills 111th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H.R. 4647 Introduced in House (IH)]

111th CONGRESS
  2d Session
                                H. R. 4647

To impose sanctions on persons who are complicit in human rights abuses 
 committed against citizens of Iran or their family members after the 
       June 12, 2009, elections in Iran, and for other purposes.


_______________________________________________________________________


                    IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

                           February 23, 2010

   Mr. McMahon (for himself, Ms. Berkley, Mr. Klein of Florida, Mr. 
 Weiner, and Ms. Jackson Lee of Texas) introduced the following bill; 
which was referred to the Committee on Foreign Affairs, and in addition 
   to the Committees on Financial Services, Ways and Means, and the 
 Judiciary, for a period to be subsequently determined by the Speaker, 
 in each case for consideration of such provisions as fall within the 
                jurisdiction of the committee concerned

_______________________________________________________________________

                                 A BILL


 
To impose sanctions on persons who are complicit in human rights abuses 
 committed against citizens of Iran or their family members after the 
       June 12, 2009, elections in Iran, and for other purposes.

    Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the 
United States of America in Congress assembled,

SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.

    This Act may be cited as the ``Iran Human Rights Sanctions Act''.

SEC. 2. FINDINGS.

    Congress makes the following findings:
            (1) Iran voted in the United Nations General Assembly on 
        December 10, 1948, to adopt the Universal Declaration of Human 
        Rights, thereby committing to guarantee the ``life, liberty, 
        and security of person'' of all people and rejecting ``cruel, 
        inhuman, or degrading treatment or punishment''.
            (2) The Constitution of the Islamic Republic of Iran 
        guarantees certain human rights and fundamental freedoms, 
        including political and civil rights, along with economic, 
        social, and cultural rights, including a prohibition on torture 
        and a guarantee of sentencing according to the law.
            (3) The Islamic Republic of Iran is a party to 4 major 
        United Nations human rights treaties: the Convention on the 
        Rights of the Child (which it ratified on July 13, 1994), the 
        International Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of 
        Racial Discrimination (which it ratified on August 29, 1968), 
        and the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights 
        and the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural 
        Rights (both of which it ratified on June 24, 1975).
            (4) The Government of the Islamic Republic of Iran is 
        violating its international and constitutional obligations to 
        respect the human rights and fundamental freedoms of its 
        citizens, including by--
                    (A) using torture and cruel, inhuman, or degrading 
                treatment or punishment, including flogging, and 
                amputations;
                    (B) carrying out an increasingly high rate of 
                executions in the absence of internationally recognized 
                safeguards, including public executions and executions 
                of juvenile offenders;
                    (C) using stoning as a method of execution and 
                maintaining a high number of persons in prison who 
                continue to face sentences of execution by stoning;
                    (D) carrying out arrests, violent repression, and 
                sentencing of women exercising their right to peaceful 
                assembly, a campaign of intimidation against women's 
                rights defenders, and continuing discrimination against 
                women and girls;
                    (E) permitting or carrying out increasing 
                discrimination and other human rights violations 
                against persons belonging to religious, ethnic, 
                linguistic, or other minorities;
                    (F) imposing ongoing, systematic, and serious 
                restrictions of freedom of peaceful assembly and 
                association and freedom of opinion and expression, 
                including the continuing closures of media outlets, 
                arrests of journalists, and the censorship of 
                expression in online forums such as blogs and websites; 
                and
                    (G) imposing severe limitations and restrictions on 
                freedom of religion and belief, including by carrying 
                out arbitrary arrests, indefinite detentions, and 
                lengthy jail sentences for those exercising their 
                rights to freedom of religion or belief and proposing a 
                provision in a draft penal code that sets out a 
                mandatory death sentence for apostasy, the abandoning 
                of one's faith.
            (5) On June 19, 2009, the United Nations High Commissioner 
        for Human Rights expressed concerns about the increasing number 
        of arrests not in conformity with the law and the illegal use 
        of excessive force in responding to protests following the June 
        12, 2009, elections in Iran, resulting in at least dozens of 
        deaths and hundreds of injuries.
            (6) On August 1, 2009, authorities in the Islamic Republic 
        of Iran began a mass trial of more than 100 individuals in 
        connection with election protests, most of whom were held for 
        weeks, in solitary confinement, with little or no access to 
        their lawyers or families, and many of whom showed signs of 
        torture or abuse.
            (7) The Supreme Leader of Iran issued a statement on 
        October 28, 2009, effectively criminalizing dissent in the 
        aftermath of the national election of June 12, 2009.
            (8) On November 4, 2009, security forces in the Islamic 
        Republic of Iran used brutal force to disperse thousands of 
        protesters, resulting in a number of injuries and arrests, in 
        violation of international standards regarding the 
        proportionate use of force against peaceful demonstrations.
            (9) At least 8 citizens of Iran were killed and an 
        undetermined number were injured on December 27, 2009, when 
        security forces of the Islamic Republic of Iran violently broke 
        up peaceful gatherings during the Ashura holiday.
            (10) The Government of the Islamic Republic of Iran has 
        recently sentenced numerous Iranian citizens to death without 
        due process for politicized crimes relating to the peaceful 
        demonstrations that followed the June 12, 2009, elections, 
        including ``waging war against God'', and has begun carrying 
        out those execution sentences, including the death by hanging 
        of 2 individuals on January 28, 2010.

SEC. 3. IMPOSITION OF SANCTIONS ON CERTAIN PERSONS WHO ARE COMPLICIT IN 
              HUMAN RIGHTS ABUSES COMMITTED AGAINST CITIZENS OF IRAN OR 
              THEIR FAMILY MEMBERS AFTER THE JUNE 12, 2009, ELECTIONS 
              IN IRAN.

    (a) In General.--Except as provided in subsections (d) and (e), the 
President shall impose sanctions described in subsection (c) with 
respect to each person on the list required by subsection (b).
    (b) List of Persons Who Are Complicit in Certain Human Rights 
Abuses.--
            (1) In general.--Not later than 90 days after the date of 
        the enactment of this Act, the President shall submit to the 
        appropriate congressional committees a list of persons who are 
        citizens of Iran who the President determines are complicit in 
        human rights abuses committed against citizens of Iran or their 
        family members on or after June 12, 2009, regardless of whether 
        such abuses occurred in Iran.
            (2) Updates of list.--The President shall submit to the 
        appropriate congressional committees an updated list under 
        paragraph (1) periodically and as new information becomes 
        available.
            (3) Public availability.--The list required under paragraph 
        (1) shall be made available to the public and posted on the 
        websites of the Department of the Treasury and the Department 
        of State.
            (4) Consideration of data from other countries and 
        nongovernmental organizations.--In preparing the list required 
        under paragraph (1), the President shall consider data already 
        obtained by other countries and nongovernmental organizations, 
        including organizations in Iran, that monitor the human rights 
        abuses of the Government of Iran.
    (c) Sanctions Described.--The sanctions described in this 
subsection are the following:
            (1) Visa ban.--Ineligibility for a visa to enter the United 
        States.
            (2) Financial sanctions.--Sanctions authorized under the 
        International Emergency Economic Powers Act (50 U.S.C. 1701 et 
        seq.), including blocking of property and restrictions or 
        prohibitions on financial transactions and the exportation and 
        importation of property.
    (d) Exceptions To Comply With International Agreements.--The 
President may, by regulation, authorize exceptions to the imposition of 
sanctions under this section to permit the United States to comply with 
the Agreement between the United Nations and the United States of 
America regarding the Headquarters of the United Nations, signed June 
26, 1947, and entered into force November 21, 1947, and other 
applicable international agreements.
    (e) Waiver.--The President may waive the requirement to impose or 
maintain sanctions with respect to a person under subsection (a) or the 
requirement to include a person on the list required by subsection (b) 
if the President--
            (1) determines that such a waiver is in the national 
        interest of the United States; and
            (2) submits to the appropriate congressional committees a 
        report describing the reasons for the determination.
    (f) Termination of Sanctions.--The provisions of this section shall 
cease to have force and effect on the date on which the President 
determines and certifies to the appropriate congressional committees 
that the Government of Iran has--
            (1) unconditionally released all political prisoners, 
        including the citizens of Iran detained in the aftermath of the 
        June 12, 2009, presidential election in Iran;
            (2) ceased its practices of violence, unlawful detention, 
        torture, and abuse of citizens of Iran while engaging in 
        peaceful political activity; and
            (3) conducted a transparent investigation into the 
        killings, arrest, and abuse of peaceful political activists in 
        Iran and prosecuted those individuals responsible.
    (g) Appropriate Congressional Committees Defined.--In this section, 
the term ``appropriate congressional committees'' has the meaning given 
that term in section 14(2) of the Iran Sanctions Act of 1996 (Public 
Law 104-172; 50 U.S.C. 1701 note).
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