[Congressional Record Volume 148, Number 49 (Friday, April 26, 2002)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Page E635]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                           STATEMENT ON IRAN

                                 ______
                                 

                            HON. MARK UDALL

                              of colorado

                    in the house of representatives

                        Thursday, April 25, 2002

  Mr. UDALL of Colorado. Mr. Speaker, in his State of the Union 
address, President George W. Bush rightly emphasized that ``Iran 
aggressively pursues weapons [of mass destruction] and exports terror, 
while an unelected few repress the Iranian people's hope for freedom.'' 
This grim reality was recently underscored in the latest report by the 
U.N. Special Representative on the Situation of Human Rights in Iran 
who denounced an increase in public stonings, floggings, and executions 
in Iran.
  Attorney General John Ashcroft pointed last year to the Iranian 
regime's role in the bombing of the Khobar Towers in Saudi Arabia. The 
Minister of the Revolutionary Guards at the time claimed responsibility 
for the 1983 bombing against Americans in Lebanon and said: ``both the 
TNT and ideology which in one blast sent to hell 400 officers, NCOs and 
soldiers at the Marine Headquarters have been provided by Iran.'' The 
Iranian regime continues to support the terrorist and fundamentalist 
groups in the region. The intervention of the Revolutionary Guards in 
Afghanistan is of great concern as well.
  The Iranian regime's track record inside the country is even worse, 
and includes the execution of some 120,000 and imprisonment of hundreds 
of thousands for political charges. In a resolution last December, the 
UN General Assembly condemned the ``growing number of executions,'' in 
particular ``public and especially cruel executions, such as stoning,'' 
and ``the use of torture and other forms of cruel, inhuman and 
degrading punishment,'' as well as discrimination against persons 
belonging to minorities'' and the ``systematic discrimination against 
women.'' In the same month, the European Parliament in a unanimous 
resolution announced that the human rights situation in Iran has 
actually deteriorated in many aspects.
  Five years after President Khatami's election, the Iranian regime 
continues to be the leading state sponsor of terrorism, pursues an 
ambitious weapons of mass destruction program, and has stepped up 
repression against its own population. This is further substantiated in 
the State Department human rights report released on March 4th of this 
year, which states that the regime's record ``regarding freedom of 
expression, which has worsened during the past few years, continued to 
deteriorate;'' that ``the Government denies the universality of human 
rights;'' and that ``discrimination against women is reinforced by 
law'' with the regime enforcing ``gender segregation in most public 
spaces.'' Summarizing the horrific situation in Iran, the State 
Department report highlights that: ``Systematic abuses include summary 
executions, disappearances, widespread use of torture and other 
degrading treatment. . . .''
  The State Department report on human rights practices also 
acknowledges that resistance groups such as the Mojahedin have become 
the target of the political repression of the Iranian regime. The 
report states that supporters of political organizations ``such as the 
Mojahedin, are believed to make up a large number of those executed 
each year.'' Photographic evidence of the flogging and hangings that 
supporters of the Mojahedin are subjected to was provided at a hearing 
on March 6, 2002 of the House Subcommittee on International Operations 
and Human Rights of the Committee on International Relations.
  The President announced recently that in dealing with regimes such as 
Iran's, ``the price of indifference would be catastrophic.'' I agree, 
and I urge the Administration to review all options available to hold 
the Iranian government accountable for its support of terrorism and its 
abysmal human rights record, and to help promote democratic change in 
the country.

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