[Congressional Bills 118th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H. Res. 627 Introduced in House (IH)]

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118th CONGRESS
  1st Session
H. RES. 627

   Condemning the Government of the Islamic Republic of Iran for the 
  massacre of political prisoners in 1988 and the uprisings of recent 
 years, including the 2018, 2019, and 2022 uprisings, and calling for 
                        justice for its victims.


_______________________________________________________________________


                    IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

                             July 27, 2023

 Mr. Gooden of Texas (for himself, Mr. Cohen, Mr. Bacon, Mr. Ruiz, Ms. 
  Mace, Mr. Bishop of Georgia, Mr. Webster of Florida, Ms. Garcia of 
  Texas, Mr. Weber of Texas, Mr. Swalwell, Mr. Grothman, Mr. Davis of 
 Illinois, Mr. LaMalfa, Ms. Crockett, Mrs. Chavez-DeRemer, Mr. Carson, 
Mr. Sessions, Mr. Pappas, Mr. Ellzey, Ms. Jackson Lee, Mr. Fitzpatrick, 
Mr. Duarte, Mr. Nehls, Mr. McClintock, Mr. Moolenaar, Mr. Wenstrup, Mr. 
  Mooney, Mr. Bilirakis, Mr. Hudson, Mr. Babin, Ms. Malliotakis, Mr. 
DesJarlais, Mr. Gimenez, Mr. Mike Garcia of California, Mr. Santos, Mr. 
 Loudermilk, Mr. David Scott of Georgia, Mr. Austin Scott of Georgia, 
   and Ms. Spanberger) submitted the following resolution; which was 
              referred to the Committee on Foreign Affairs

_______________________________________________________________________

                               RESOLUTION


 
   Condemning the Government of the Islamic Republic of Iran for the 
  massacre of political prisoners in 1988 and the uprisings of recent 
 years, including the 2018, 2019, and 2022 uprisings, and calling for 
                        justice for its victims.

Whereas, in the 115th Congress, the House of Representatives passed H.R. 4744 
        calling on the United States to ``condemn Iranian human rights abuses 
        against dissidents, including the massacre in 1988 and the suppression 
        of political demonstrations in 1999, 2009, and 2017, and pressure the 
        Government of Iran to provide family members detailed information that 
        they were denied about the final resting places of any missing victims 
        of such abuses'';
Whereas H. Res. 188, ``Condemning the Government of the Islamic Republic of Iran 
        for the 1988 massacre of political prisoners and calling for justice for 
        the victims'', was first introduced in the 115th Congress, cosponsored 
        by four former and current chairs of the Committee on Foreign Affairs of 
        the House of Representatives;
Whereas the massacre was carried out pursuant to a fatwa, or religious decree, 
        issued by then-Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini, that targeted 
        the People's Mojahedin of Iran (PMOI), also known as the Mujahedeen-e-
        Khalq (MEK);
Whereas the killings of as many as 30,000 political prisoners in 1988 were 
        carried out based on the fatwa to execute all political prisoners who 
        remained loyal to the Iranian Resistance, and subsequent death 
        commissions were formed on July 19, 1988, whose members included the 
        current Iranian regime's President, Ebrahim Raisi, an official from the 
        Ministry of Intelligence, and a state prosecutor, to implement the 
        fatwa;
Whereas prisoners were reportedly brought before the commissions and briefly 
        questioned about their political affiliation, and any prisoner who 
        refused to renounce his or her affiliation with groups perceived as 
        enemies by the regime was then taken away for execution;
Whereas, according to Amnesty International, ``the majority of those killed were 
        supporters of the MEK/PMOI'';
Whereas the 1988 massacre victims, many of them women, had been imprisoned 
        merely for participating in peaceful street protests and for possessing 
        political reading material, many of whom had already served or were 
        currently serving prison sentences;
Whereas, according to Amnesty International, ``hundreds of members and 
        supporters of other political groups . . . were also among the execution 
        victims'';
Whereas later waves of executions targeted religious minorities, such as members 
        of the Baha'i faith, many of whom were often subjected to brutal torture 
        before they were killed;
Whereas, in a disclosed audiotape, the late Hussein Ali Montazeri, a grand 
        ayatollah who served as Khomeini's chief deputy, noted the regime's 
        efforts to target the MEK and said that the 1988 mass killings were 
        ``the greatest crime committed during the Islamic Republic, for which 
        history will condemn us'';
Whereas the families of the executed were denied information about their loved 
        ones and were prohibited from mourning them in public;
Whereas the November 2, 2007, report from Amnesty International concluded that 
        ``there should be no impunity for human rights violations, no matter 
        where or when they took place. The 1988 executions should be subject to 
        an independent, impartial investigation, and all those responsible 
        should be brought to justice and receive appropriate penalties'';
Whereas, beginning in 2017 and continuing for several months after protests 
        erupted in more than 100 cities, the Iranian regime suppressed such 
        protests with repressive forces that resulted in at least 25 deaths and 
        4,000 arrests, including decorated wrestling champion Navid Afkari, who 
        was later executed in September 2020 amidst international outrage;
Whereas, on November 15, 2019, popular protests against the Iranian regime began 
        and rapidly spread to at least 100 cities throughout the country, and 
        reports indicate that Iranian security forces used lethal force and 
        about 1,500 people were killed during less than 2 weeks of unrest, and 
        thousands more were detained during these protests;
Whereas, beginning in September 2022, antigovernment protests ignited in 
        response to the death of Mahsa Amini, a 22-year-old Kurdish-Iranian 
        woman who was arrested by the morality police that enforces Iran's 
        mandatory dress code laws;
Whereas, in several months of continuing protests in hundreds of cities 
        throughout Iran, the regime's security forces have killed hundreds and 
        arrested tens of thousands of protesters;
Whereas, according to a December 9, 2022, Amnesty International report, ``Iran's 
        security forces have killed with absolute impunity more than 40 children 
        and injured many more in a bid to crush the spirit of resistance among 
        the country's youth and retain their iron grip on power at any cost'';
Whereas these protests are rooted in the more than four decades of organized 
        resistance against the Iranian dictatorship, which have been led by 
        women who have endured torture, sexual and gender-based violence, and 
        death;
Whereas the Iranian people have been deprived of their fundamental freedoms for 
        which reason they are rejecting monarchic dictatorship and religious 
        tyranny, as evident in their protest slogans;
Whereas, on November 24, 2022, the United Nations Human Rights Council 
        established a fact-finding commission to conduct an independent 
        investigation into the ongoing deadly violence related to the protests 
        in Iran;
Whereas the Iranian regime has arbitrarily and brutally suppressed ethnic and 
        religious minorities, including Iranian Kurds, Baluchis, Arabs, 
        Christians, Jews, Baha'is, Zoroastrians, and even Sunni Muslims, and 
        deprived them of their basic human rights, and has in many cases 
        executed them;
Whereas senior Iranian Government, military, judicial, and security officials 
        have for decades ordered or committed egregious human rights violations 
        and acts of terror;
Whereas the United States should be involved in any establishment of an 
        international investigation into the 1988 extrajudicial killings of 
        Iranian dissidents as well as the murder of protesters;
Whereas over 900 women and men of Ashraf 3 are former political prisoners who 
        witnessed prison crimes of the Iranian regime, and many of them are 
        witnesses of the 1988 massacre and other political killings in Iran, 
        among them eyewitnesses of crimes committed by Ebrahim Raisi, who must 
        be fully protected for potential testimonies before any international 
        courts investigating the killings in Iran;
Whereas, in November 2021, the Swedish Judiciary moved the whole court in 
        Stockholm to Albania for two weeks to facilitate hearing testimonies of 
        seven former Iranian political prisoners now residing in Ashraf 3, who 
        were considered key witnesses for a trial related to the 1988 massacre;
Whereas, in an April 19, 2016, letter to a European Parliament Vice-President, 
        the Prime Minister of Albania wrote, ``Albania is fully engaged and 
        committed to ensure for the Iranian refugees all rights stipulated in 
        the Geneva Convention 1951, in the European Human Rights Convention and 
        in the whole international legislation''; and
Whereas, according to the statement issued by Secretary of State Antony J. 
        Blinken on April 24, 2023, ``The United States condemns Iran's continued 
        human rights abuses and remains committed to supporting the people of 
        Iran as they face the brutality of the Iranian regime'': Now, therefore, 
        be it
    Resolved, That the House of Representatives--
            (1) condemns the Government of the Islamic Republic of Iran 
        for the 1988 massacre and for denying the evidence of this 
        manifest set of crimes against humanity;
            (2) urges the Administration and the United States allies 
        to publicly condemn the massacre and pressure the Government of 
        Iran to provide detailed information to the families of the 
        victims about their loved ones and their final resting places;
            (3) urges the Administration and the United States and its 
        allies to put on their agenda to help the families of the 
        victims of the Iranian regime to identify and prosecute the 
        perpetrators of the 1988 massacres and the massacres of 
        protesters against this regime in the recent uprisings;
            (4) stands with the people of Iran, who are legitimately 
        defending their rights for freedom against repression and 
        condemns the brutal killing of Iranian protesters by the 
        Iranian regime;
            (5) calls on the United States Government, in cooperation 
        with our ally Albania, to ensure the full protection of the 
        Iranian political refugees in Ashraf 3 in Albania and for them 
        to benefit from all rights stipulated in the Geneva Convention 
        1951 and the European Convention on Human Rights, including the 
        right to life, liberty, and security, and protection of 
        property, as well as freedom of expression and assembly;
            (6) calls on the United Nations Human Rights Council to 
        include the massacre of thousands of political prisoners in 
        1988 in the agenda of the fact-finding commission for an 
        independent investigation launched on November 24, 2022, to 
        investigate the ongoing deadly violence against protesters; and
            (7) recognizes the rights of the Iranian people and their 
        struggle to establish a democratic, secular, and nonnuclear 
        Republic of Iran.
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