[Congressional Bills 118th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H. Con. Res. 7 Referred in Senate (RFS)]

<DOC>
118th CONGRESS
  1st Session
H. CON. RES. 7


_______________________________________________________________________


                   IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES

                            January 26, 2023

        Received; referred to the Committee on Foreign Relations

_______________________________________________________________________

                         CONCURRENT RESOLUTION


 
 Condemning the Iranian regime's human rights abuses against the brave 
women and men of Iran peacefully demonstrating in more than 133 cities.

Whereas, on September 16, 2022, 22-year-old Mahsa Amini passed away in the 
        custody of Iranian ``morality police'' following a 3-day coma due to 
        wounds, including bone fracture, hemorrhage, and cerebral edema 
        consistent with severe beating, inflicted by the police for purportedly 
        wearing a hijab improperly;

Whereas, on September 16, Iranians gathered in the streets of Tehran to protest 
        the killing of Mahsa Amini;
Whereas demonstrations have since spread to more than 133 cities and 130 
        universities in Iran, where women are removing or burning hijabs, 
        cutting their hair, and dancing in front of Iranian security forces, 
        joined by their fellow Iranian citizens;
Whereas Iranian security forces have responded to such demonstrations with 
        violence and detentions, including detentions of journalists and 
        activists for covering the protests;
Whereas the security forces have reportedly killed more than 450 protestors, 
        including at least 58 children; however, the number of injuries and 
        deaths is likely higher but unobtainable due to internet blackouts;
Whereas at least 18,000 Iranians have been arrested across Iran according to 
        official sources, and many thousands more have been detained according 
        to independent reports;
Whereas videos, images, and demonstrations have spread to social media platforms 
        and are an important way for the voices of the Iranian people to be 
        heard;
Whereas internet monitoring groups have reported that the Iranian regime has--

    (1) caused near-total disruption of internet connectivity in parts of 
Iran and partial disruptions in city centers; and

    (2) blocked WhatsApp, Twitter, Telegram, Facebook, Instagram, and video 
games with chat functions;

Whereas common protest chants include--

    (1) ``Women, life, and freedom!'';

    (2) ``Iranians die but will not be suppressed!''; and

    (3) ``Death to the dictator Ayatollah Ali Khamenei!'';

Whereas the Iranian regime has a long history of structural and legal 
        discrimination against women, including barriers for women seeking 
        justice against domestic violence and criminal prohibitions against 
        women singing or showing hair in public and studying certain technical 
        subjects;
Whereas the Iranian regime approved of ``depriving one social right or more'' 
        for any woman who posts an unveiled picture of herself on social media, 
        and, in August 2022, approved of enforcing mandatory hijab laws through 
        facial recognition;
Whereas, through misogynistic criminal statutes, the Iranian regime for decades 
        has detained and engaged in the ongoing persecution of women, 
        including--

    (1) Saba Kord Afshari, who was sentenced to 15 years in prison for 
posting videos to social media without a hijab and transferred into Ward 6 
of the notorious Qarchak Women's Prison, identified by the Secretary of the 
Treasury for gross violations of human rights;

    (2) Yasaman Aryani, her mother Monireh Arabshahi, and Mojgan Keshavarz, 
who were sentenced to serve five and a half years in prison for posting a 
video for International Women's Day in 2019, during which they walked 
without headscarves through a metro train in Tehran, handing flowers to 
female passengers;

    (3) human rights attorney Nasrin Sotoudeh, who was sentenced in 2019 to 
38 years in prison and 148 lashes for providing legal defense services to 
women charged with not wearing a hijab;

    (4) Narges Mohammadi, a prominent rights advocate, who--

    G    (A) was arrested in November 2021 on the second anniversary of 
countrywide protests and is currently serving a 2-year sentence in prison;

    G    (B) was handed a further sentence of 15 months imprisonment for 
``propaganda against the state''; and

    G    (C) previously, had been sentenced to 10 years in prison in May 
2015 for ``establishing an illegal group'', ``assembly and collusion to act 
against national security'', and ``propaganda against the state'';

    (5) former Vice President for Women and Family Affairs Shahindokht 
Molaverdi, who was charged with encouraging ``corruption, prostitution, and 
sexual deviance'', a common charge against women refusing mandatory hijab 
laws, and sentenced in December 2020 to 30 months in prison for defending 
the right of women to attend sporting events and criticizing the practice 
of child marriage;

    (6) six women who were sentenced by the Culture and Media Court of 
Tehran in July 2022 to each serve 1 year in prison for the offense of 
singing songs in public;

    (7) Niloofar Hamedi, one of the first Iranian journalists to report on 
Mahsa Amini's death, who was arrested on September 22, 2022, and is being 
held in solitary confinement; and

    (8) countless other women; and

Whereas peaceful protests in Iran over the last year have focused on grievances 
        that include--

    (1) mismanagement of the economy and national resources;

    (2) prioritization of funding for terror groups and pariah regimes over 
social services for the people of Iran; and

    (3) widespread political corruption: Now, therefore, be it

    Resolved by the House of Representatives (the Senate concurring), 
That Congress--
            (1) condemns--
                    (A) the brutal beating and death of Mahsa Amini; 
                and
                    (B) the violent suppression by the Iranian regime 
                of women and men participating in the current 
                demonstrations, including children, and calls for 
                transparent accountability for all killings of 
                protesters by Iranian security forces;
            (2) supports the women and men of Iran who are--
                    (A) participating in the current protests to defend 
                their fundamental human rights; and
                    (B) risking their safety to speak out against the 
                human rights abuses committed by the Iranian regime;
            (3) supports internet freedom programs that circumvent the 
        regime and provide support for VPNs and other alternatives that 
        can be used to bypass attempts by authoritarian governments to 
        censor internet access during times of protest, and commends 
        private entities willing to provide programs to circumvent such 
        censorship;
            (4) encourages continued efforts by the Biden 
        Administration to respond to the protests, including the recent 
        sanctioning of the Iranian morality police, and further 
        encourages the Biden Administration--
                    (A) to immediately impose, under existing 
                authorities, additional human rights sanctions on 
                officials and entities responsible for the repression 
                of the current protests;
                    (B) to prioritize efforts to expand unrestricted 
                internet access in Iran, consistent with existing law; 
                and
                    (C) to work to develop a strategy to prevent the 
                Iranian regime from obtaining and exploiting facial 
                recognition data and software for the use of mass 
                surveillance and enforcement of mandatory hijab;
            (5) encourages the private sector, following the recent 
        clarification by the Biden Administration of sanctions 
        exemptions on communications technology, to work with the Biden 
        Administration to ensure protestors and activists have access 
        to tools needed to circumvent government surveillance and 
        repression; and
            (6) welcomes the efforts of the international community to 
        support protestors in Iran, and calls on the international 
        community--
                    (A) to publicly condemn violence by the Iranian 
                regime against peaceful protesters;
                    (B) to speak out against violations by the regime 
                of fundamental human rights, including the freedom of 
                expression, assembly, and redress of grievances of the 
                Iranian people; and
                    (C) to impose human rights sanctions on officials 
                and entities that are responsible for the repression of 
                current protests and involved in violating the human 
                rights of the Iranian people.

            Passed the House of Representatives January 25, 2023.

            Attest:

                                             CHERYL L. JOHNSON,

                                                                 Clerk.