[Congressional Bills 117th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H. Res. 744 Engrossed in House (EH)]

<DOC>
H. Res. 744

                In the House of Representatives, U. S.,

                                                      December 1, 2022.
Whereas in 1982, 1984, 1988, 1990, 1992, 1993, 1994, 1996, 2000, 2004, 2006, 
        2008, 2009, 2012, 2013, 2015, 2016, 2017, 2018, and 2020, 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 since 1979, Iranian authorities have killed or executed more than 200 
        Baha'i leaders, and more than 10,000 have been dismissed from government 
        and university jobs;
Whereas the Baha'i International Community documented a more than 50-percent 
        increase in hate propaganda directed against the Baha'is in the 12-month 
        period ending in August 2020, compared to prior years, with more than 
        9,500 such articles, videos, or web pages appearing in Iranian 
        government-controlled or government-sponsored media;
Whereas, on December 16, 2021, the United Nations General Assembly adopted a 
        resolution (A/C.3/76/L.28) criticizing Iran for human rights abuses and 
        calling on Iran to carry out wide-ranging reforms, including--

    (1) ``ceasing use of the death penalty and commuting the sentences for 
child offenders on death row'';

    (2) ``ensuring that no one is subjected to torture or other cruel, 
inhumane or degrading treatment'';

    (3) ``ceasing the widespread and systematic use of arbitrary arrests 
and detention'';

    (4) ``releasing persons detained for the exercise of their human rights 
and fundamental freedoms'';

    (5) ``improving conditions inside prisons'';

    (6) ``eliminating discrimination against women and girls''; and

    (7) ``eliminating discrimination against ethnic, linguistic, and other 
minorities'';

Whereas in the 2022 Annual Report of the United States Commission on 
        International Religious Freedom issued in April 2022, it is reported 
        that the Government of Iran--

    (1) ``arrested scores of Baha'is across Iran, many of whom were held 
incommunicado or taken to undisclosed locations'';

    (2) ``sent Ministry of Intelligence agents to search the home of a 
Baha'i citizen and confiscated her belongings'';

    (3) ``continued to deny university education to Baha'is on account of 
their faith'';

    (4) ``closed six Baha'i businesses'';

    (5) ``demolished the homes of three Baha'is without warning'';

    (6) ``announced the auction of thirteen Baha'i farms''; and

    (7) ``continued to deny Baha'is the right to bury their deceased in 
empty plots at the Golestan Javid cemetery outside Tehran which the 
community has used for decades. Instead, Baha'is are being forced to use 
the Khaveran mass grave site where victims of the 1988 prison massacres are 
buried'';

Whereas the Iran section of the Department of State's 2021 Report on 
        International Religious Freedom issued in June 2022 provides, in part--

    (1) ``Security forces in Shiraz and Mazandaran Province conducted 
multiple arrests of Baha'is in their homes or workplaces in the last week 
of September without providing reasons or charges.'';

    (2) ``Authorities continued to confiscate Baha'i properties as part of 
an ongoing state-led campaign of economic persecution against Baha'is. 
Authorities issued an order in April denying Baha'is permission to bury 
their dead in empty plots at the Tehran-area cemetery designated for 
Baha'is, forcing them to bury them at a mass grave site.'';

    (3) ``Authorities reportedly continued to deny the Baha'i, Sabean-
Mandaean, and Yarsani religious communities, as well as members of other 
unrecognized religious minority groups, access to education and government 
employment unless they declared themselves as belonging to one of the 
country's recognized religions on their application forms.''; and

    (4) ``Government officials continued to disseminate anti-Baha'i and 
antisemitic messages using traditional and social media.'';

Whereas, on July 4, 2022, the Baha'i International Community noted ``The Iranian 
        government's systematic campaign to persecute the Baha'i religious 
        minority accelerated again this past week with the arrest, court hearing 
        or imprisonment of at least 18 more Baha'i citizens across the country, 
        bringing the June total to 44 people. Hundreds of others, meanwhile, 
        also await summonses to court or to prison.'';
Whereas, on July 21, 2022, the Baha'i International Community announced ``More 
        than 20 Baha'is in Shiraz, Tehran, Yazd and Bojnourd, have been 
        arrested, jailed or subjected to home searches and business closures 
        since the beginning of July. Last month 44 Baha'is were arrested, 
        arraigned or imprisoned, suggesting an escalating crisis in the Iranian 
        government's systematic campaign against the country's largest non-
        Muslim religious minority. . .'';
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 section 105 of the Comprehensive Iran Sanctions, Accountability, and 
        Divestment Act of 2010 (22 U.S.C. 8514) authorizes the President to 
        impose sanctions on individuals who are ``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''; and
Whereas the Iran Threat Reduction and Syria Human Rights Act of 2012 (Public Law 
        112-158) amends and expands the authorities established under the 
        Comprehensive Iran Sanctions, Accountability, and Divestment Act of 2010 
        (Public Law 111-195) to sanction Iranian human rights abusers: Now, 
        therefore, be it
    Resolved, That the House of Representatives--
            (1) condemns the Government of Iran's state-sponsored persecution of 
        its Baha'i minority and its continued violation of the Universal 
        Declaration of Human Rights (UDHR) and the International Covenant on 
        Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR);
            (2) calls on the Government of Iran--
                    (A) to immediately release the imprisoned or detained 
                Baha'is and all other prisoners held solely on account of their 
                religion;
                    (B) to end its state-sponsored campaign of hate propaganda 
                against the Baha'is; and
                    (C) to reverse state-imposed policies denying Baha'is and 
                members of other religious minorities equal opportunities to 
                higher education, earning a livelihood, due process under the 
                law, and the free exercise of religious practices;
            (3) calls on the President and the 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 the Secretary of State to utilize 
        available authorities 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.
            Attest:

                                                                          Clerk.