[Congressional Bills 111th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H.R. 4649 Introduced in House (IH)]

111th CONGRESS
  2d Session
                                H. R. 4649

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, political processes in Iran, and for other purposes.


_______________________________________________________________________


                    IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

                           February 23, 2010

Ms. Ros-Lehtinen (for herself, Mr. Marshall, and Mr. Royce) 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, political processes 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) Iran is a party to major international human rights 
        instruments.
            (3) The Government of Iran is violating its international 
        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;
                    (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.
            (4) 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, political processes in Iran, resulting in at least 
        dozens of deaths and hundreds of injuries.
            (5) On August 1, 2009, authorities in the Government 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.
            (6) The ``Supreme Leader'' of Iran issued a statement on 
        October 28, 2009, effectively criminalizing dissent in the 
        aftermath of the national political processes of June 12, 2009.
            (7) On November 4, 2009, security forces in the Government 
        of Iran used brutal force to disperse thousands of protesters, 
        resulting in a number of injuries and arrests, in violation of 
        international norms regarding the proportionate use of force 
        against peaceful demonstrations.
            (8) At least 8 citizens of Iran were killed and an 
        undetermined number were injured on December 27, 2009, when 
        security forces of the Government of Iran violently broke up 
        peaceful gatherings during the Ashura holiday.
            (9) The Government 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, political processes, 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.
            (10) The Iran Freedom Support Act (Public Law 109-293; 50 
        U.S.C. 1701 note) declares that it should be the policy of the 
        United States--
                    (A) to support efforts by the people of Iran to 
                exercise self-determination over the form of government 
                of their country; and
                    (B) to support independent human rights and 
                peaceful pro-democracy forces in Iran.

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, POLITICAL 
              PROCESSES IN IRAN.

    (a) In General.--The President shall impose sanctions described in 
subsection (c) (1) and (2) with respect to each person on the list 
required by subsection (b), beginning not later than the date on which 
the President submits to the appropriate congressional committees the 
list required by subsection (b)(1) or the updated list required by 
subsection (b)(2) (as the case may be).
    (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 that 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.--Not later than 180 days after the 
        date of the enactment of this Act, and every 90 days 
        thereafter, the President shall submit to the appropriate 
        congressional committees an updated list under paragraph (1).
            (3) Public availability.--The list required by 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 
        by 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) Termination of Sanctions.--The provisions of this section shall 
cease to have force and effect beginning 90 days after the date on 
which the President determines and certifies to the appropriate 
congressional committees that--
            (1) the persons sanctioned under this section have ceased 
        to be 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; and
            (2) the Government of Iran has--
                    (A) unconditionally released all political 
                prisoners, including the citizens of Iran detained in 
                the aftermath of the June 12, 2009, political processes 
                in Iran, and allowed for investigations of Iranian 
                prisons by appropriate international human rights 
                organizations;
                    (B) ceased its practices of violence, unlawful 
                detention, torture, and abuse of citizens of Iran while 
                engaging in peaceful political activity;
                    (C) conducted a transparent investigation into the 
                killings, arrest, and abuse of peaceful political 
                activists in Iran and prosecuted those responsible;
                    (D) legalized all political activity;
                    (E) made public commitments to organizing free and 
                fair elections for a new government--
                            (i) to be held in a timely manner within a 
                        period not to exceed 180 days after the date on 
                        which the President makes the determination and 
                        certification to the appropriate congressional 
                        committees under this subsection;
                            (ii) with the participation of multiple 
                        independent political parties that have full 
                        access to the media on an equal basis, 
                        including (in the case of radio, television, or 
                        other telecommunications media) in terms of 
                        allotments of time for such access and the 
                        times of day such allotments are given; and
                            (iii) to be conducted under the supervision 
                        of internationally recognized observers;
                    (F) ceased any interference with broadcasts such as 
                Voice of America and Radio Farda; and
                    (G) made public commitments to and is making 
                demonstrable progress in--
                            (i) establishing an independent judiciary; 
                        and
                            (ii) respecting internationally recognized 
                        human rights and basic freedoms as recognized 
                        in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights.

SEC. 4. DEFINITIONS.

    In this Act:
            (1) Appropriate congressional committees.--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).
            (2) Country reports on human rights practices.--The term 
        ``Country Reports on Human Rights Practices'' means the annual 
        reports required to be submitted by the Department of State to 
        Congress under sections 116(d) and 502B(b) of the Foreign 
        Assistance Act of 1961 (22 U.S.C. 2151n(d) and 2304(b)).
            (3) Government of iran.--The term ``Government of Iran'' 
        includes any agency or instrumentality of the Government of 
        Iran, including any entity that is controlled by the Government 
        of Iran.
            (4) Human rights abuses.--The term ``human rights abuses'' 
        means those forms of abuses detailed in the Department of 
        State's annual Country Reports on Human Rights Practices.
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