[Congressional Bills 118th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[S. Res. 599 Introduced in Senate (IS)]

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118th CONGRESS
  2d Session
S. RES. 599

  Protecting the Iranian political refugees, including female former 
              political prisoners, in Ashraf-3 in Albania.


_______________________________________________________________________


                   IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES

                             March 20, 2024

    Mr. Tillis (for himself, Mr. Cornyn, Mr. Cruz, Mr. Boozman, Mr. 
   Menendez, Mrs. Shaheen, Mr. Coons, and Mr. Booker) submitted the 
 following resolution; which was referred to the Committee on Foreign 
                               Relations

_______________________________________________________________________

                               RESOLUTION


 
  Protecting the Iranian political refugees, including female former 
              political prisoners, in Ashraf-3 in Albania.

Whereas, since October 2023, the Iranian regime has increasingly acted as the 
        epicenter of terrorism in the region, from supporting proxies that 
        vehemently oppose peace in the Middle East, to threatening commercial 
        shipping and free trade in the Red Sea and from targeting American 
        forces in the region, to providing missile and drones to rogue actors, 
        all of which pose serious risks to regional peace and security and 
        endanger the vital interests of the United States;
Whereas Iran remains the world's leading state sponsor of terrorism today;
Whereas the Iranian people have rejected the regime ruling Iran through several 
        rounds of major demonstrations, engulfing all 31 provinces of Iran 
        calling for change;
Whereas the Iranian regime has resorted to killing, torture, sexual violence, 
        and imprisonment of protesters, and several thousand protesters since 
        2017 have been killed, and many more have been imprisoned;
Whereas the Iranian regime has been intent on eliminating the Iranian political 
        refugees who survived Tehran's repression and were first based in Camp 
        Ashraf, Iraq, in the mid-1980s;
Whereas, starting in 2012, the United States Government and the United Nations 
        initiated the relocation of nearly 3,000 Iranian dissidents from Camp 
        Ashraf, Iraq, where they were repeatedly attacked by the Iranian 
        regime's proxies, and facilitated their gradual relocation in 2013, 
        2014, and 2015 to Albania;
Whereas the relocation of these Iranian political refugees to Albania from Iraq 
        was completed in September 2016, and the refugees, a third of them 
        women, are now residing in Ashraf-3 near Tirana in Albania;
Whereas, on April 19, 2016, before the relocation of the majority of the 
        residents to Albania, in a 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.'';
Whereas over 900 women and men of Ashraf-3 are former political prisoners who 
        endured torture while in prisons and many of them are witnesses of the 
        1988 massacre of political prisoners and other political killings in 
        Iran, among them eyewitnesses of crimes committed by Ebrahim Raisi;
Whereas these witnesses must be fully protected for potential testimonies before 
        international courts investigating the 1988 massacre and other grave 
        human rights violations 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, whose 
        testimony was characterized as critical for a trial related to the 1988 
        massacre;
Whereas, in December 2023, a Swedish court confirmed the earlier ruling by the 
        lower court of a life sentence for Hamid Noury, implicated in the 1988 
        massacre where he was an official in Gohardasht Prison;
Whereas the Iranian regime has stepped up terrorist attacks against its 
        opponents and has used blackmail, terror threats, hostage-taking, sham 
        judicial proceedings, and other means of intimidation against western 
        nations to compel them to silence Iranian opponents living abroad;
Whereas, on several occasions, including in the last week of December 2023, the 
        Iranian regime carried out large-scale cyberattacks against Albania to 
        pressure the Government of Albania to undermine or end its hosting of 
        Iranian political refugees;
Whereas experience has shown that any lack of decisiveness or concessions to 
        Tehran only emboldens the Iranian regime for its destructive actions;
Whereas the Iranian regime has, over the past few months, stepped up threats 
        against Ashraf-3, and given what the regime has done since October 7, 
        2023, far more vigilance on the part of the United States is required to 
        ensure the complete protection and rights of Ashraf-3 residents in 
        Albania;
Whereas, on December 12, 2023, the Iranian regime started sham trials in 
        absentia for 104 veteran members of the Iranian Resistance, who, since 
        years ago, have been primarily based in Europe, including in Albania, to 
        create a phony legal precedent against them and secure their extradition 
        to Iran by misusing INTERPOL Red Notices, impose limitations, or set the 
        stage for terror attacks against them;
Whereas the Iranian regime is doing its utmost through any means to prevent 
        Ashraf-3 residents from speaking up against the regime;
Whereas the leadership role of women in Ashraf-3 has doubly heightened the 
        Iranian regime's misogynous hysteria against the political refugees in 
        Ashraf-3;
Whereas over 3,600 parliamentarians around the world and 125 former world 
        leaders have expressed their support for Mrs. Maryam Rajavi's Ten-Point 
        Plan for the Future of Iran, which calls for the universal right to 
        vote, free elections, a market economy, separation of religion and 
        state, and advocates for gender, religious, and ethnic equality, a 
        foreign policy based on peaceful coexistence, peace in the Middle East, 
        and a nonnuclear republic Iran; and
Whereas, in sharp contrast to Iran's institutionalized misogyny, this Ten-Point 
        platform has adequately addressed women's equality, including ``complete 
        gender equality in the realms of political, social, cultural and 
        economic rights. An equal participation of women in political 
        leadership, abolishment of any form of discrimination. The right to 
        choose one's own clothing freely, the right to freely marry and divorce, 
        and to obtain education and employment. Prohibition of all forms of 
        exploitation against women under any pretext.'': Now, therefore, be it
    Resolved, That it is sense of the Senate that--
            (1) the Iranian political refugees in Ashraf-3, in 
        rejection of the Iranian regime's demands, must be afforded 
        their fundamental rights of freedom of expression and assembly 
        and legal political activities in Albania;
            (2) the United States Government condemns the Iranian 
        regime's threats and nefarious actions against the Government 
        of Albania, including cyberattacks and threats against the 
        Iranian dissidents in Ashraf-3 in Albania;
            (3) the United States Government should take prompt and 
        appropriate steps in accordance with international law, 
        including the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, the 
        International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, the 
        European Convention on Human Rights, and the 1951 Convention 
        Relating to the Status of Refugees, to help the Government of 
        Albania ensure and uphold all fundamental rights of Ashraf-3 
        residents within the framework of the above conventions, 
        including the right to life, liberty, security, protection of 
        property, and freedom of expression and assembly;
            (4) the United States Government strongly opposes Iran's 
        misuse of the INTERPOL Red Notices to impose restrictions or 
        limitations or set in motion the extradition of Iranian 
        dissidents to Iran; and
            (5) the United States Government must continue close and 
        regular cooperation with the Government of Albania and the 
        residents of Ashraf-3 to ensure the complete protection and 
        fundamental rights of Ashraf-3 residents.
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