[Congressional Bills 115th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[S. Res. 245 Introduced in Senate (IS)]
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115th CONGRESS
1st Session
S. RES. 245
Calling on the Government of Iran to release unjustly detained United
States citizens and legal permanent resident aliens, and for other
purposes.
_______________________________________________________________________
IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES
August 3, 2017
Mr. Cruz (for himself and Mr. Leahy) submitted the following
resolution; which was referred to the Committee on Foreign Relations
_______________________________________________________________________
RESOLUTION
Calling on the Government of Iran to release unjustly detained United
States citizens and legal permanent resident aliens, and for other
purposes.
Whereas the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) of Iran has taken as
hostages several United States citizens, including Siamak Namazi, Baquer
Namazi, and Xiyue Wang, as well as United States legal permanent
resident alien Nizar Zakka;
Whereas Siamak Namazi was detained on October 15, 2015, falsely accused and
convicted on October 18, 2016, for ``collaborating with a hostile
government,'' and has been held for extended periods in solitary
confinement and subjected to prolonged interrogation;
Whereas former United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF) official Baquer Namazi,
the 80-year-old father of Siamak Namazi, was detained on February 22,
2016, falsely charged and sentenced to 10 years in prison for the
identical crime as his son;
Whereas former Secretary-General of the United Nations Ban Ki-moon urged
authorities in Iran to release Baquer Namazi, whose health is
deteriorating, so his family can care for him;
Whereas UNICEF has issued 4 public statements on Baquer Namazi's behalf;
Whereas Xiyue Wang, a graduate student at Princeton University, was arrested in
Iran on or about August 7, 2016, while studying Farsi and researching
the late Qajar dynasty as background for his doctoral dissertation,
detained by Iran in Evin prison for almost a year, falsely charged with
espionage, and sentenced to 10 years in prison;
Whereas Robert Levinson, a United States citizen and retired agent of the
Federal Bureau of Investigation, traveled to Kish Island, Iran, and
disappeared on March 9, 2007;
Whereas, according to former White House Press Secretary Josh Earnest, the
United States Government had ``secured a commitment from the Iranians .
. . to try and gather information about Mr. Levinson's possible
whereabouts'' but has not received any information thus far;
Whereas Nizar Zakka, a United States legal permanent resident alien and Lebanese
national, who is also in poor health, was unlawfully detained around
September 18, 2015, after speaking at a conference in Iran at the
invitation of Iran, and was later falsely charged with being a spy and
sentenced to 10 years at the Evin prison in Iran;
Whereas, on April 13, 2017, the United States Department of the Treasury
sanctioned the Tehran Prisons Organization and its former head, Sohrab
Soleimani, and former White House Press Secretary Sean Spicer noted that
``[t]he sanctions against human rights abusers in Iran's prisons come at
a time when Iran continues to unjustly detain in its prisons various
foreigners, including U.S. citizens Siamak Namazi and Baquer Namazi'';
Whereas, on April 25, 2017, at the meeting of the Joint Commission overseeing
implementation of the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action, the Department
of State reported that the United States delegation had ``raised with
the Iranian delegation its serious concerns regarding the cases of U.S.
citizens detained and missing in Iran, and called on Iran to immediately
release these U.S. citizens so they can be reunited with their
families''; and
Whereas reports indicate that the Government of Iran has sought to condition the
release of imprisoned nationals and dual-nationals on receipt of
economic or political concessions, a practice banned by the
International Convention Against the Taking of Hostages, adopted by the
General Assembly of the United Nations on December 17, 1979, and acceded
to by the Government of Iran on November 20, 2006, and other
international legal norms: Now, therefore, be it
Resolved, That the Senate--
(1) calls on the Government of Iran to release Siamak
Namazi, Baquer Namazi, Xiyue Wang, Nizar Zakka, and any other
United States citizen, legal permanent resident alien, or
foreign national being unjustly detained in Iran;
(2) urges the President to make the release of United
States citizens and legal permanent resident aliens held
hostage by the Government of Iran the highest of priorities;
(3) requests that the United States and its allies whose
nationals and residents have been detained consider
establishing a multinational task force to work to secure the
release of the detainees;
(4) urges the Government of Iran to take meaningful steps
toward fulfilling its repeated promises to assist in locating
and returning Robert Levinson, including immediately providing
all available information from all entities of the Government
of Iran regarding the disappearance of Robert Levinson to the
United States Government;
(5) urges the President to take whatever steps are in the
national interest to secure the release of Siamak Namazi,
Baquer Namazi, Xiyue Wang, Nizar Zakka, and any other United
States citizen, legal permanent resident alien, or foreign
national being unjustly detained in Iran; and
(6) urges the President to take whatever steps are in the
national interest to determine the whereabouts and secure the
return of Robert Levinson.
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