[Congressional Record Volume 155, Number 93 (Friday, June 19, 2009)]
[House]
[Page H7071]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




         PROTESTS RESULTING FROM IRANIAN PRESIDENTIAL ELECTION

  (Mr. GARRETT of New Jersey asked and was given permission to address 
the House for 1 minute.)
  Mr. GARRETT of New Jersey. It has now been 1 week since the Iranian 
people went to the polls to elect their new political leader. And in 
the last 7 days, the results of the election have been questioned, the 
media in Iran has been suppressed, thousands of demonstrators have 
protested, and some of these demonstrators have been injured and 
killed. Yet this very morning the supreme leader of Iran compared the 
election to a family disagreement. He offered no apologies for the 
deaths of the civilian protesters and, instead, simply blamed the 
Western media for being Zionist-controlled.
  As a Member of Congress, I am appalled at this response and the 
apparent mockery of a fundamental democratic freedom, the freedom to 
protest and report on one's own government. We know the demonstrators 
were harassed rather than defended, and we know that Internet 
connections were cut and cell phone services disabled. Even foreign 
radio and television satellites were jammed.
  So I ask, is this the behavior indicative of a country that 
recognizes liberties? I was proud earlier today to vote for H. Res. 560 
and express my support for the Iranian citizens who recognize the need 
for their voices to be heard.

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