[Congressional Bills 113th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H. Res. 754 Introduced in House (IH)]

113th CONGRESS
  2d Session
H. RES. 754

     Condemning the Government of Iran for its gross human rights 
                              violations.


_______________________________________________________________________


                    IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

                           November 14, 2014

     Mr. Royce (for himself and Mr. Engel) submitted the following 
   resolution; which was referred to the Committee on Foreign Affairs

_______________________________________________________________________

                               RESOLUTION


 
     Condemning the Government of Iran for its gross human rights 
                              violations.

Whereas Iran is a member of the United Nations and a signatory to both the 
        Universal Declaration of Human Rights and the International Covenant on 
        Civil and Political Rights, among other international human rights 
        treaties, without reservation;
Whereas in violation of these and other international obligations, officials of 
        the Government of Iran continue to perpetrate gross violations of the 
        fundamental human rights of the Iranian people;
Whereas Iranian women are increasingly subject to heinous acid attacks, either 
        condoned by, or sponsored by, the Government of Iran, through the Basij 
        and other vigilante groups;
Whereas the Parliament of Iran recently enacted a law providing legal protection 
        to private citizens to enforce a strict Islamic dress code and other 
        behavior prescribed under Sharia law, emboldening the Basij and other 
        vigilante groups;
Whereas the Government of Iran ``manipulates the electoral process'', according 
        to the United States Department of State's Country Reports on Human 
        Rights Practices for 2013, ``severely limit[ing] citizens' right to 
        change their government peacefully through free and fair elections'';
Whereas following voting irregularities that resulted in the election of 
        President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, the Government of Iran brutally 
        suppressed peaceful political dissent from wide segments of civil 
        society during the Green Revolution in 2009 in a cynical attempt to 
        retain its undemocratic grip on power;
Whereas the Government of Iran has kept the principal leaders of the Green 
        Revolution, Mir Hussein Moussavi and Mehdi Karroubi, under house arrest 
        since February 2011;
Whereas the United States Department of State consistently finds that Iranian 
        authorities have ``limited freedom of association through threats, 
        intimidation, the imposition of arbitrary requirements on organizations, 
        and the arrests of group leaders and members'';
Whereas the United States Department of State's Virtual Embassy Tehran website 
        highlights human rights violations and abuses in Iran on a weekly basis;
Whereas the Government of Iran continues to restrict freedom of speech and 
        peaceful assembly, particularly for journalists and human rights 
        activists;
Whereas the United Nations Special Rapporteur on the Situation of Human Rights 
        in the Islamic Republic of Iran found in its August 2014 report that the 
        laws and policies of the Government of Iran ``continue to place overly 
        broad restrictions on the rights to freedom of expression and access to 
        information'', including ``severe content restrictions, intimidation and 
        prosecution of Internet users and limitations on Internet access through 
        throttling and filtering'';
Whereas the ability of religious freedom and human rights activists to freely 
        express themselves, and mobilize civil society, is actively thwarted by 
        the Government of Iran;
Whereas the Special Rapporteur found that the Government of Iran continues to 
        apply capital punishment to offenders convicted of crimes below the 
        international human rights law threshold of ``most serious crimes''; 
        political prisoners; and juvenile offenders, including 8 individuals in 
        2014 believed to be less than 18 years of age at the time of their 
        alleged crimes;
Whereas Iranian women continue to face legal and societal discrimination, as 
        well as rampant domestic violence, which is not specifically prohibited 
        under domestic law;
Whereas, on October 25, 2014, Iranian authorities executed Reyhaneh Jabbari, an 
        Iranian woman convicted of killing a man she said she stabbed in self-
        defense during a sexual assault, an execution preceded by the lack of 
        due process, including a reported forced confession;
Whereas the United States Department of State issued a statement condemning 
        Jabbari's execution and calling on Iran to ``respect the fair trial 
        guarantees afforded to its people under Iran's own laws and its 
        international obligations'';
Whereas the United States Commission on International Religious Freedom found in 
        its 2014 Annual Report that the Government of Iran ``continues to engage 
        in systematic, ongoing, and egregious violations of religious freedom, 
        including prolonged detention, torture, and executions based primarily 
        or entirely upon the religion of the accused'';
Whereas the Government of Iran persecutes such religious minority groups as the 
        Baha'is, Christians, Sufi, Sunni, and dissenting Shi'a Muslims (such as 
        imprisoned Ayatollah Hossein Kazemeyni Boroujerdi) through harassment, 
        arrests, and imprisonment, during which detainees have routinely been 
        beaten, tortured, and killed;
Whereas since 1999, the United States Department of State has repeatedly 
        designated Iran as a ``country of particular concern'' for severe 
        violations of religious freedom pursuant to the International Religious 
        Freedom Act of 1998 (Public Law 105-292), most recently on July 28, 
        2014;
Whereas the Government of Iran has long persecuted with particular intensity the 
        Baha'i community, the largest non-Muslim religious minority in Iran, who 
        number at least 300,000, and are viewed as ``heretics'', and therefore 
        are subjected to repression on the grounds of apostasy;
Whereas according to the United States Commission on International Religious 
        Freedom, since 1979, Iranian authorities have killed or executed more 
        than 200 Baha'i leaders;
Whereas ordinary Iranian citizens who belong to the Baha'i faith are 
        disproportionately targeted, interrogated, and detained under the 
        pretext of national security;
Whereas senior governmental, military, and public security officials in Iran are 
        responsible for ordering, controlling, and committing gross human rights 
        violations that, in many cases, represent national policies of the 
        Iranian regime;
Whereas the United States Department of the Treasury, pursuant to section 413 of 
        the Iran Threat Reduction and Syria Human Rights Act of 2012 (22 U.S.C. 
        8753), issued a General License in September 2013 to permit the 
        exportation of services and the transfer of funds for activities related 
        to human rights and democracy building projects in Iran, which 
        facilitate United States nongovernmental organizations' activities that 
        increase Iranian access to information and freedom of expression;
Whereas since 2010, the United States Department of the Treasury, in 
        consultation with the United States Department of State, has sanctioned 
        19 Iranian officials and 18 Iranian entities for their involvement or 
        complicity in serious human rights abuses or in restricting the freedom 
        of expression or assembly of the Iranian people;
Whereas the most recent designation was for Morteza Tamaddom, former Governor-
        General of Tehran Province, designated May 23, 2014, under Executive 
        Order 13628 for his involvement in censorship and other activities that 
        limit the freedom of expression and freedom of assembly of Iran's 
        citizens;
Whereas the United States led the effort in the United Nations Human Rights 
        Council to renew the mandate of the Special Rapporteur on Iran in order 
        to further expose Iranian human rights abuses; and
Whereas it is important that the President of the United States consistently and 
        rigorously exercise the statutory authorities granted by the 
        Comprehensive Iran Sanctions, Accountability, and Divestment Act of 2010 
        and the Iran Threat Reduction and Syria Human Rights Act of 2012 to 
        impose sanctions on officials of the Government of Iran and other 
        individuals directly responsible for human rights abuses, engaging in 
        censorship, or engaging in the diversion of goods intended for the 
        people of Iran: Now, therefore, be it
    Resolved, That the House of Representatives--
            (1) calls on the Government of Iran to abide by all of its 
        international and domestic obligations with respect to human 
        rights and civil liberties, including freedoms of assembly, 
        speech, and press;
            (2) deplores the dramatic rise in executions of Iranian 
        citizens by authorities since the election of President Hassan 
        Rouhani in June 2013;
            (3) condemns, in particular, the recent cruel execution of 
        Reyhaneh Jabbari, an Iranian woman convicted of killing a man 
        she said she stabbed in self-defense during a sexual assault;
            (4) deplores the Government of Iran's mistreatment of its 
        religious minorities, including through the deprivation of 
        life, liberty, and property;
            (5) condemns, in particular, the Government of Iran for its 
        relentless persecution of its Baha'i minority;
            (6) calls on the Government of Iran to release all 
        political prisoners and prisoners of conscience;
            (7) notes that the Administration has designated only one 
        Iranian person for the commission of serious human rights 
        abuses under the Comprehensive Iran Sanctions, Accountability, 
        and Divestment Act, as amended, since May 30, 2013;
            (8) urges the President to increase the utilization of all 
        available authorities, including the Comprehensive Iran 
        Sanctions, Accountability, and Divestment Act of 2010, to 
        impose sanctions on officials of the Government of Iran and 
        other individuals directly responsible for serious human rights 
        abuses, including by freezing those individuals' assets and 
        barring their entry into the United States;
            (9) urges the United States Government to adopt and 
        implement the following recommendations of the United States 
        Commission on International Religious Freedom with respect to 
        Iran--
                    (A) continue to seek that violations of freedom of 
                religion or belief and related human rights are part of 
                multilateral or bilateral discussions with the 
                Government or Iran whenever possible, and continue to 
                work closely with European and other allies to apply 
                pressure through a combination of advocacy, diplomacy, 
                and targeted sanctions;
                    (B) continue to speak out publicly and frequently 
                at the highest levels about the severe religious 
                freedom abuses in Iran, press for and work to secure 
                the release of all prisoners of conscience, and 
                highlight the need for the international community to 
                hold authorities accountable in specific cases; and
                    (C) continue to call on Iran to cooperate fully 
                with the United Nations Special Rapporteur on the Human 
                Rights Situation in Iran, including allowing the 
                Special Rapporteur, as well as the United Nations 
                Special Rapporteur on Freedom of Religion or Belief, to 
                visit and continue to support an annual United Nations 
                General Assembly resolution condemning severe 
                violations of human rights, including freedom of 
                religion or belief in Iran and calling for officials 
                responsible for such violations to be held accountable;
            (10) condemns the undemocratic elections process that 
        denies Iranians the ability to freely choose their own 
        government; and
            (11) stands with the people of Iran who seek the 
        opportunity to freely elect a government of their choosing.
                                 <all>