[Congressional Bills 118th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H. Res. 492 Introduced in House (IH)]

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118th CONGRESS
  1st Session
H. RES. 492

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


_______________________________________________________________________


                    IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

                              June 9, 2023

  Ms. Schakowsky (for herself, Mr. McCaul, Mr. Meeks, Mr. Beyer, Mr. 
Bilirakis, Mr. Blumenauer, Mr. Connolly, Ms. Dean of Pennsylvania, Ms. 
Houlahan, Mr. Huffman, Mr. Keating, Mr. Kilmer, Mr. Kim of New Jersey, 
 Mr. Krishnamoorthi, Mr. LaMalfa, Ms. Lee of California, Mr. McGovern, 
 Ms. Meng, Mr. Moulton, Mr. Obernolte, Mr. Peters, Mr. Schneider, Ms. 
 Schrier, Ms. Titus, Mr. Vargas, Ms. Wexton, Ms. Williams of Georgia, 
Mr. Wilson of South Carolina, and Mr. Wittman) submitted the following 
   resolution; which was referred to the Committee on Foreign Affairs

_______________________________________________________________________

                               RESOLUTION


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

Whereas in 1982, 1984, 1988, 1990, 1992, 1993, 1994, 1996, 2000, 2004, 2006, 
        2008, 2009, 2012, 2013, 2015, 2016, 2017, 2018, 2020, 2021 and 2022, 
        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 Baha'is have been dismissed from 
        government and university jobs;
Whereas June 18, 2023, marks the 40th anniversary of the execution of 10 Baha'i 
        women by the Iranian Government each witnessing the hanging of those 
        hanged before her in a final failed attempt to induce abandonment of 
        their faith after over 6 months of imprisonment and violent abuse, with 
        the youngest only 17 years old;
Whereas, on December 15, 2022, the United Nations General Assembly adopted a 
        resolution (A/C.3/77/L.34) criticizing Iran for human rights abuses and 
        calling on Iran to carry out wide-ranging reforms, including--

    (1) to end its ``continuing disregard for protections under Iranian law 
or internationally recognized safeguards relating to the imposition of the 
death penalty'' and ``to commute the sentences for child offenders on death 
row'';

    (2) ``to ensure, in law and in practice, that no one is subjected to 
torture or other cruel, inhumane or degrading treatment'';

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

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

    (5) ``to address the poor conditions of prisons'';

    (6) ``to eliminate, in law and in practice, all forms of systemic 
discrimination and other human rights violations against women and girls'';

    (7) to cease the ``increased harassment, intimidation, persecution, 
arbitrary arrest and detention of, and incitement to hatred that leads to 
violence against, persons belonging to recognized and unrecognized 
religious minorities, including Christians (particularly converts from 
Islam), Gonabadi Dervishes, Jews, Sufi Muslims, Sunni Muslims, Yarsanis, 
Zoroastrians, and, in particular, Baha'is, who have been subjected to a 
sudden increase in persecution, who have faced increasing restrictions and 
systemic persecution by the Government of the Islamic Republic of Iran on 
account of their faith and have been reportedly subjected to mass arrests 
and lengthy prison sentences, as well as the arrest of prominent members 
and increased confiscation and destruction of property''; and

    (8) ``to release all religious practitioners imprisoned for their 
membership in or activities on behalf of a minority religious group, to 
cease the desecration of cemeteries and to ensure that everyone has the 
right to freedom of thought, conscience and religion or belief'';

Whereas, in the 2023 Annual Report of the United States Commission on 
        International Religious Freedom issued in April 2023, it is reported 
        that--

    (1) the Government of Iran ``escalated its persecution of Baha'is, 
conducting nationwide arrests and spreading propaganda against the group'';

    (2) in February [2022], Judge Mohammadghasem Ain al-Kamali of Branch 1 
of the Semnan Revolutionary Court ruled that [the parastatal entity known 
as] the Execution of Imam Khomeini's Order (EIKO) could legally confiscate 
the property of Baha'is . . . Branch 54 of the Tehran Appeals Court upheld 
the decision in August following the destruction of six Baha'i houses in 
Rooshankooh;

    (3) government officials arrested 14 Baha'is during a religious study 
in Ghaemshahr; and

    (4) the Government of Iran ``continued its systematic campaign of 
Baha'i arrests'' throughout the latter part of 2022;

Whereas, in response to a surge in persecution in June and July 2022, involving 
        the subjection of over 100 Baha'is to arrests, arraignments, 
        sentencings, and raids on their homes and businesses across Iran, 
        including the sentencing in June of 26 individuals in the city of Shiraz 
        to a combined total of 85 years in prison, the Department of State's 
        Office of International Religious Freedom issued a statement on August 
        2, 2022, indicating that ``[a]mid a continued rise in arrests, 
        sentences, and imprisonments, the U.S. urges Iran to halt its ongoing 
        oppression of the Baha'i community and honor its international 
        obligations to respect the right of all Iranians to freedom of religion 
        or belief'';
Whereas the Iran section of the Department of State's 2022 Report on 
        International Religious Freedom issued in May 2023 provides, in part--

    (1) ``According to the Baha'i International Community (BIC), Amnesty 
International, multiple international news organizations, and the United 
Nations, in July and August, security forces in cities across the country 
conducted multiple raids of Baha'i homes, confiscated property deemed 
`illegitimate wealth,' and arrested Baha'is in their homes or workplaces on 
unsubstantiated charges including `causing intellectual and ideological 
insecurity in Muslim society.'';

    (2) ``In August, a group of UN human rights experts released a joint 
statement calling on the government to stop the increasing arbitrary 
arrests and enforced disappearances of members of the Baha'i Faith and the 
destruction or confiscation of their properties in what the experts said 
`bears all the signs of a policy of systematic persecution'.''; and

    (3) ``In their August 22 statement, the UN experts stated that as of 
April, more than 1,000 Baha'is awaited imprisonment, following their 
initial arrest and hearings.'';

Whereas, on November 21, 2022, Ms. Mahvash Sabet and Ms. Fariba Kamalabadi, 2 
        former members of the disbanded informal 7-person leadership group of 
        the Baha'is of Iran, who each served 10-year sentences from 2008 to 2018 
        and have been detained since July 31, 2022, in Evin prison, were 
        sentenced to an additional 10 years in prison each after a summary trial 
        lasting 1 hour; and on February 10, 2023, another former member of the 
        disbanded leadership group, Mr. Afif Naimi, who had also served a 10-
        year sentence from 2008 to 2018, was sentenced on February 10, 2023, to 
        7 years in prison, which he began to serve on April 29, 2023;
Whereas, on December 11, 2022, the Baha'i International Community organization 
        reported that, ``More than 320 Baha'is have been affected by individual 
        acts of persecution since the arrest [on July 31, 2022] of Mahvash 
        [Sabet] and Fariba [Kamalabadi]. Dozens were arrested at various points 
        in Shiraz, across Mazandaran province, and elsewhere throughout the 
        country. Homes owned by Baha'is in the village of Roshankouh were 
        demolished. Government plans to tar the Baha'is through hate speech and 
        propaganda were also exposed. And at least 90 Baha'is are currently in 
        prison or subject to degrading ankle-band monitoring.'';
Whereas, on April 21, 2023, the Department of State's Office of International 
        Religious Freedom issued a statement in a tweet indicating that, ``[w]e 
        are deeply concerned following the news of Mahvash Sabet's injuries 
        sustained while in prison. No one should be punished for their faith. We 
        call on Iranian authorities to make sure Mrs. Sabet receives medical 
        attention immediately and release her.'';
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 the Baha'i minority in Iran and the continued 
        violation of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and the 
        International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights;
            (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.
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