Whereas the 1979 Constitution of the Islamic Republic of
Iran supposedly guarantees certain human rights and fundamental freedoms, which
encompass civil and political rights, along with economic, social, and cultural
rights;
Whereas the Islamic Republic of Iran is a party to four
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
its ratified on June 24, 1975);
Whereas the Government of Iran has routinely violated the
human rights of its citizens, including—
(1)torture and
cruel, inhuman, or degrading treatment or punishment, including flogging, and
amputations;
(2)high incidence
and increase in the rate of executions carried out in the absence of
internationally recognized safeguards, including public executions and
executions of juvenile offenders;
(3)stoning as a
method of execution and persons in prison who continue to face sentences of
execution by stoning;
(4)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;
(5)increasing
discrimination and other human rights violations against persons belonging to
religious, ethnic, linguistic, or other minorities;
(6)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
(7)severe
limitations and restrictions on freedom of religion and belief, including
arbitrary arrest, indefinite detention, and lengthy jail sentences for those
exercising their right to freedom of religion or belief, including a provision
in the proposed draft penal code that sets out a mandatory death sentence for
apostasy, the abandoning of one’s faith;
Whereas, since March 9, 2007, Robert Levinson, a United
States citizen, has been missing in the Islamic Republic of Iran, and the
Government of Iran has provided little information on his whereabouts or
assistance in ensuring his safe return to the United States;
Whereas Ja’far Kiani was publicly stoned to death in July
2007 in the Islamic Republic of Iran in contravention of an order from the Head
of the Judiciary granting a temporary stay of execution;
Whereas, since May 2008, Reza Taghavi, a 71-year old
Iranian-American, has been imprisoned without a trial or formal charges;
Whereas, on October 15, 2008, authorities in the Islamic
Republic of Iran jailed Esha Momeni, a graduate student at California State
University, Northridge, for her peaceful activities in connection with the
women’s rights movement in the Islamic Republic of Iran, and refused to grant
her permission to leave Iran for 10 months following her release from prison in
November 2008;
Whereas Iranian-American journalist Roxana Saberi was
jailed in January 2009 and sentenced in a closed-door, one-hour trial to eight
years in prison for charges of espionage before her release in May 2009;
Whereas, on June 19, 2009, the United Nations High
Commissioner for Human Rights expressed concerns about the increasing number of
illegal arrests not in conformity with the law and the illegal use of excessive
force in responding to protests following the June 12, 2009, elections,
resulting in at least dozens of deaths and hundreds of injuries;
Whereas the Government of Iran closed the Center for
Defenders of Human Rights, headed by Nobel Peace prize winner Shirin Ebadi, in
December 2008, and the Association of Iranian Journalists in August 2009, the
country’s largest independent association for journalists;
Whereas, on August 1, 2009, authorities in the Islamic
Republic of Iran began a mass trial of over 100 individuals in connection with
election protests, most of whom were held incommunicado for weeks, in solitary
confinement, with little or no access to their lawyers and families, many of
whom showed signs of torture and drugging;
Whereas, in early October 2009, the judiciary of the
Islamic Republic of Iran sentenced four individuals to death after the disputed
presidential election, without providing the individuals adequate access to
legal representation during their trials;
Whereas the Supreme Leader of Iran, Ali Khamenei, issued a
statement on October 28, 2009, effectively criminalizing dissent regarding the
national election in the Islamic Republic of Iran this past June, further
restricting the right to freedom of expression;
Whereas the Government of Iran does not allow independent
nongovernmental associations and labor unions to perform their role in
peacefully defending the rights of all persons;
Whereas, 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;
Whereas the Government of Iran expelled students from
universities, particularly over the past two years, in reprisal for their being
critical of the government;
Whereas the Government of Iran has imposed restrictions on
the travel of individuals, including artists and filmmakers since the recent
elections, in reprisal for their political views or their criticism of the
government, such as those presently imposed on human rights lawyer Abdolfattah
Soltani, human rights activist Emad Baghi, film director Jafar Panahi, and
actress Fatemeh Motamed Arya; and
Whereas, according to Amnesty International, at least 346
people were known to have been executed in 2008, including eight juvenile
offenders and two men who were executed by stoning: Now, therefore, be
it
That the Senate—
(1)calls for
authorities in the Islamic Republic of Iran to respect the rights of the people
of Iran to freedom of speech, press, religion, association, and
assembly;
(2)condemns the
Government of Iran’s human rights violations and calls on the Government of
Iran to hold those responsible accountable for their actions;
(3)reminds the
Government of Iran of its constitutional obligations under its 1979
Constitution and four international covenants to which it is a
signatory;
(4)calls for the
immediate release from detention of opposition figures, human rights defenders,
journalists, and all others held for peacefully exercising their right to
expression, assembly, and association;
(5)urges the
Government of Iran to ensure that anyone placed on trial for committing acts of
violence or other clearly criminal acts benefits from all of his or her rights
to a fair trial, including proceedings that are open to the public, the right
to be represented by independent counsel, and guarantees that no statements
shall be admitted into evidence that were shown to have been obtained through
torture, inhumane, or degrading treatment;
(6)calls for the
Government of Iran to ensure those currently in detention are treated humanely,
to provide detainees immediate prompt access to their families, lawyers, and
any medical treatment that may be needed, and calls for the Government of Iran
to hold accountable those responsible for torture of detainees; and
(7)calls for
authorities in the Islamic Republic of Iran, consistent with their obligations
under the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, to guarantee
all persons the freedom to seek, receive and impart information and
ideas of all kinds, regardless of frontiers, either orally, in writing, or in
print, in the form of art, or through any other media of his
choice
.