[Congressional Bills 113th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[S. Res. 75 Agreed to Senate (ATS)]

113th CONGRESS
  1st Session
S. RES. 75

 Condemning the Government of Iran for its state-sponsored persecution 
of its Baha'i minority and its continued violation of the International 
                       Covenants on Human Rights.


_______________________________________________________________________


                   IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES

                             March 12, 2013

     Mr. Kirk (for himself, Mr. Durbin, Mr. Rubio, Mr. Bennet, Mr. 
   Whitehouse, Mr. Casey, Mr. Johanns, Mr. Wyden, Mr. Menendez, Mr. 
 Cardin, Mr. Blunt, Mr. Boozman, Mr. Heller, Mr. Moran, Ms. Cantwell, 
  Mrs. Feinstein, Mr. Kaine, Mr. Merkley, Mr. Leahy, Ms. Collins, Ms. 
 Warren, Ms. Baldwin, Mr. Sanders, Mr. Schatz, Mr. Inhofe, Ms. Hirono, 
 Mrs. Shaheen, Mr. Toomey, Mr. Grassley, Mr. Coburn, Ms. Mikulski, Mr. 
 Pryor, Mr. Tester, Mr. Cochran, Mrs. Boxer, and Mr. Murphy) submitted 
   the following resolution; which was referred to the Committee on 
                           Foreign Relations

                           December 18, 2013

  Reported by Mr. Menendez, with an amendment and an amendment to the 
                                preamble

                           December 20, 2013

      Considered, amended, and agreed to with an amended preamble

_______________________________________________________________________

                               RESOLUTION


 
 Condemning the Government of Iran for its state-sponsored persecution 
of its Baha'i minority and its continued violation of the International 
                       Covenants on Human Rights.

Whereas, in 1982, 1984, 1988, 1990, 1992, 1994, 1996, 2000, 2006, 2008, 2009, 
        2012, and 2013, 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 the United States Commission on International Religious Freedom 2013 
        Report stated that ``[t]he Baha'i community has long been subject to 
        particularly severe religious freedom violations,'' and that ``[s]ince 
        1979, the government has killed more than 200 Baha'i leaders in Iran and 
        dismissed more than 10,000 from government and university jobs,'' in 
        addition to prohibiting them from establishing ``places of worship, 
        schools, or any independent religious associations'';
Whereas the United States Commission on International Religious Freedom 2013 
        Report found that Baha'i marriages and divorces are not recognized and 
        Baha'i holy places and community properties are often seized or 
        destroyed, and stated, ``The Baha'i community faces severe economic 
        pressure, including denials of jobs in both the public and private 
        sectors and of business licenses. Iranian authorities often pressure 
        employers of Baha'is to dismiss them from private sector employment.'';
Whereas the Department of State 2012 International Religious Freedom Report 
        stated that the Government of Iran ``prohibits Baha'is from teaching and 
        practicing their faith and subjects them to many forms of discrimination 
        not faced by members of other religious groups'' and ``requires Baha'is 
        to register with the police'';
Whereas the Department of State 2012 International Religious Freedom Report 
        stated that ``[the] government raided Baha'i homes and businesses and 
        confiscated large amounts of private and commercial property, as well as 
        religious materials,'' and found that ``Baha'is are regularly denied 
        compensation for injury or criminal victimization'';
Whereas the Department of State 2012 International Religious Freedom Report 
        stated that ``[the] government, since the Islamic Revolution, formally 
        denies Baha'i students access to higher education,'' and ``[p]ublic and 
        private universities continued to deny admittance and expel Baha'i 
        students'';
Whereas, on May 23, 2012, the United Nations Secretary-General issued a report 
        (A/HRC/19/82), which stated that ``the Special Rapporteur on freedom of 
        religion or belief. . .pointed out that the Islamic Republic of Iran had 
        a policy of systematic persecution of persons belonging to the Baha'i 
        faith, excluding them from the application of freedom of religion or 
        belief by simply denying that their faith had the status of a 
        religion'';
Whereas, on November 27, 2012, the Third Committee of the United Nations General 
        Assembly adopted a draft resolution (A/C.3/67/L.51), which noted, 
        ``[I]ncreased persecution and human rights violations against persons 
        belonging to unrecognized religious minorities, particularly members of 
        the Baha'i [F]aith and their defenders, including escalating attacks, an 
        increase in the number of arrests and detentions, the restriction of 
        access to higher education on the basis of religion, the sentencing of 
        twelve Baha'is associated with Baha'i educational institutions to 
        lengthy prison terms, the continued denial of access to employment in 
        the public sector, additional restrictions on participation in the 
        private sector, and the de facto criminalization of membership in the 
        Baha'i [F]aith.'';
Whereas, on December 20, 2012, the United Nations General Assembly adopted a 
        resolution (A/RES/67/182), which called upon the government of Iran 
        ``[t]o eliminate discrimination against, and exclusion of. . .members of 
        the Baha'i Faith, regarding access to higher education, and to eliminate 
        the criminalization of efforts to provide higher education to Baha'i 
        youth denied access to Iranian universities,'' and ``to accord all 
        Baha'is, including those imprisoned because of their beliefs, the due 
        process of law and the rights that they are constitutionally 
        guaranteed'';
Whereas, on February 28, 2013, the United Nations Special Rapporteur on the 
        situation of human rights in the Islamic Republic of Iran issued a 
        report (A/HRC/22/56), which stated that ``110 Bahai's are currently 
        detained in Iran for exercising their faith,'' and found that Baha'is in 
        the cities of Semnan, Gorgon, and Hamadan have especially faced 
        increasing persecution over the last three years, including raids, 
        arrests, physical violence, arson, vandalism to their homes, business, 
        and grave sites, and government closings of Baha'i-owned businesses;
Whereas, on February 28, 2013, the United Nations Secretary-General issued a 
        report (A/HRC/22/48), which stated, ``An ongoing anti-Baha'i media 
        campaign resulted in increasing attacks on its members and their 
        properties. This national campaign that consists of [a]nti-Baha'i 
        pamphlets, posters, seminars and the broadcasting of anti-Baha'i 
        speeches on radio networks appears to be tacitly condoned by the 
        authorities. In addition, anti-Baha'i speeches [were] reportedly 
        delivered to different audiences including schools, youth organizations 
        and the general public.'';
Whereas, on October 4, 2013, the United Nations Special Rapporteur on the 
        situation of human rights in the Islamic Republic of Iran issued a 
        report (A/68/503), which stated, ``The Special Rapporteur continues to 
        observe what appears to be an escalating patter of systematic human 
        rights violations targeting members of the Baha'i community, who face 
        arbitrary detention, torture and ill-treatment, national security 
        charges for active involvement in religious affairs, restrictions on 
        religious practice, denial of higher education, obstacles to State 
        employment and abuses within schools.'';
Whereas, in March and May of 2008, intelligence officials of the Government of 
        Iran in Mashhad and Tehran arrested and imprisoned Mrs. Fariba 
        Kamalabadi, Mr. Jamaloddin Khanjani, Mr. Afif Naeimi, Mr. Saeid Rezaie, 
        Mr. Behrouz Tavakkoli, Mrs. Mahvash Sabet, and Mr. Vahid Tizfahm, the 
        seven members of the ad hoc leadership group for the Baha'i community in 
        Iran, known as the Yaran-i-Iran, or ``friends of Iran'';
Whereas, in August 2010, the Revolutionary Court in Tehran sentenced the seven 
        Baha'i leaders to 20-year prison terms, the longest sentences given to 
        any current prisoners of conscience in Iran, on charges of ``spying for 
        Israel, insulting religious sanctities, propaganda against the regime 
        and spreading corruption on earth'';
Whereas the lawyer for these seven leaders, Mrs. Shirin Ebadi, the Nobel 
        Laureate, was denied meaningful or timely access to the prisoners and 
        their files, and her colleagues and successors as defense counsel were 
        provided extremely limited access, and Ms. Ebadi stated that there was 
        no evidence to sustain the charges against the seven;
Whereas, on May 13, 2013, four United Nations human rights experts, the Special 
        Rapporteur on the situation of human rights in Iran, Ahmed Shaheed, the 
        head of the Working Group on Arbitrary Detention, El Hadji Malick Sow, 
        the Special Rapporteur on freedom of religion or belief, Heiner 
        Bielefeldt, and the Independent Expert on Minorities issues, Rita Izask, 
        released a statement ``call[ing] on the Iranian authorities for the 
        immediate release of seven Baha'i community leaders, known as the Yaran, 
        nearing the fifth anniversary of their arrests, whose detentions were 
        declared arbitrary by the UN Working Group on Arbitrary Detention, on 20 
        November 2008'';
Whereas, beginning in May 2011, Government of Iran officials in four cities 
        conducted sweeping raids on the homes of dozens of individuals 
        associated with the Baha'i Institute for Higher Education (BIHE) and 
        arrested and detained several educators associated with BIHE;
Whereas, in October 2011, the Revolutionary Court in Tehran sentenced seven of 
        these BIHE instructors and administrators, Mr. Vahid Mahmoudi, Mr. 
        Kamran Mortezaie, Mr. Mahmoud Badavam, Ms. Nooshin Khadem, Mr. Farhad 
        Sedghi, Mr. Riaz Sobhani, and Mr. Ramin Zibaie, to prison terms for the 
        crime of ``membership of the deviant sect of Baha'ism, with the goal of 
        taking action against the security of the country, in order to further 
        the aims of the deviant sect and those of organizations outside the 
        country,'' with six of them remaining imprisoned;
Whereas, since October 2011, six other BIHE educators have been arrested and 
        imprisoned, with Ms. Faran Hessami, Mr. Kamran Rahimian, and Mr. Shahin 
        Negari serving 4-year prison terms, and Mr. Kayvan Rahimian, Dr. Foad 
        Moghaddam, and Mr. Amanollah Mostaghim serving 5-year prison terms;
Whereas the efforts of the Government of Iran to collect information on 
        individual Baha'is have recently intensified as evidenced by a letter, 
        dated November 5, 2011, from the Director of the Department of Education 
        in the county of Shahriar in the province of Tehran, instructing the 
        directors of schools in his jurisdiction to ``subtly and in a 
        confidential manner'' collect information on Baha'i students;
Whereas, since September 2013, the Government of Iran has imprisoned four Baha'i 
        mothers, Taraneh Torabi, Zohreh Nikayin, Neda Majidi, and Elham 
        Rouzbehi, along with their infant children, and Ms. Torabi, Ms. Nikayin, 
        and Ms. Rouzbehi remain imprisoned with their children;
Whereas, on August 24, 2013, Mr. Ataollah Rezvani, an active member of the 
        Baha'i community of Bandar Abbas, Iran, was found shot in his car on the 
        outskirts of the city, in what may be a religiously motivated murder 
        during a time of increased pressure on Iran's religious minorities and a 
        surge in anti-Baha'i rhetoric by various clerics;
Whereas, in September 2013, the Government of Iran released a number of 
        prisoners of conscience, and none of the prisoners released were known 
        to be Baha'is;
Whereas the Government of Iran is party to the International Covenants on Human 
        Rights and is in violation of its obligations under the Covenants; and
Whereas the Comprehensive Iran Sanctions, Accountability, and Divestment Act of 
        2010 (Public Law 111-195) authorizes the President and the Secretary of 
        State to impose sanctions on individuals ``responsible for or complicit 
        in, or responsible for ordering, controlling, or otherwise directing, 
        the commission of serious human rights abuses against citizens of Iran 
        or their family members on or after June 12, 2009'': Now, therefore, be 
        it
    Resolved, That the Senate--
            (1) condemns the Government of Iran for its state-sponsored 
        persecution of its Baha'i minority and its continued violation 
        of the International Covenants on Human Rights;
            (2) calls on the Government of Iran to immediately release 
        the seven imprisoned leaders, the twelve imprisoned educators, 
        and all other prisoners held solely on account of their 
        religion;
            (3) calls on the President and Secretary of State, in 
        cooperation with responsible nations, to immediately condemn 
        the Government of Iran's continued violation of human rights 
        and demand the immediate release of prisoners held solely on 
        account of their religion; and
            (4) urges the President and Secretary of State to utilize 
        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 abuses against the Baha'i community of Iran.
                                 <all>