[Congressional Record Volume 156, Number 21 (Thursday, February 11, 2010)]
[Senate]
[Pages S589-S592]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
CALLING FOR A RENEWED FOCUS ON THE GOVERNMENT OF THE ISLAMIC REPUBLIC
OF IRAN'S VIOLATIONS OF HUMAN RIGHTS
Mr. REID. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent to proceed to the
consideration of S. Res. 415.
The ACTING PRESIDENT pro tempore. The clerk will report the
resolution by title.
The legislative clerk read as follows:
A resolution (S. Res. 415) calling for a renewed focus on
the Government of the Islamic Republic of Iran's violations
of internationally-recognized human rights as found in the
Universal Declaration of Human Rights.
There being no objection, the Senate proceeded to consider the
resolution.
Mr. KAUFMAN. Mr. President, today I rise to express support for the
people whose voices have been silenced by the Government of Iran. For 8
months, violence has been waged against peaceful protesters. Free
speech, free expression, and a free press have been suppressed, and
access to information and news has been limited through the jamming of
international broadcasting and restrictions on the Internet.
According to a joint statement released by the United States and the
EU on Monday, since the flawed Iranian election in June, there have
been large scale detentions and mass trials of peaceful demonstrators;
threatened executions of protestors; intimidation of family members of
those detained; and the continued denial of peaceful expression,
contrary to universal norms of human rights.
This statement was issued in advance of today's protests in Iran
marking the 31st anniversary of the Islamic revolution, in anticipation
of widespread violence and additional arrests which are occurring as we
speak. These and other events in Iran represent blatant violations of
international standards for human rights. This is why I have come to
the floor today--to condemn the repression of the Iranian people, and
to call on the government of Iran to bring its unconscionable behavior
to an end.
On December 23, the Senate unanimously passed a resolution condemning
the government of Iran for ongoing human rights abuses and for
suppressing freedom of speech, assembly, expression, and the press.
This resolution, which I introduced along with Senators Lieberman,
McCain, and others, reiterated the concerns that we also conveyed in
the Victims of Iranian Censorship, or VOICE Act, which authorized
funding for the development of technology to circumvent online
censorship in Iran.
Despite these and other international expressions of solidarity with
the Iranian people, the government of Iran has become even more brutal
in recent weeks. In a statement released on January 24, Human Rights
Watch called the situation in Iran a ``human rights disaster.''
Protestors are not the only group which has been targeted. The Iranian
authorities have also launched an aggressive campaign against the
press.
On Monday, Iranian state media reported the arrest of seven
individuals charged with espionage for alleged ties to the U.S.-funded
Farsi-language radio station, Radio Farda. These allegations and
arrests coincide with a large-scale crackdown on independent media that
has intensified in the past week. In the lead-up to today's
demonstrations, Radio Farda broadcasts have been jammed, and there have
been widespread service disruptions to the Internet and text message
services. These and other government efforts have impeded the free flow
of information, news, and basic means of communication.
This is why I will join Senator Casey and others in introducing
another resolution denouncing the atmosphere of impunity in Iran for
those who employ intimidation, harassment, or violence to restrict
basic freedoms of speech, expression, assembly, and the press. I am
also proud to co-sponsor legislation introduced today by Senators
McCain, Lieberman, Casey, Bayh, Durbin, Gillibrand, Kyl, Collins,
Graham, and Brownback which gives the President the ability to impose--
at his discretion--sanctions against those Iranians who have committed
human rights abuses or acts of violence against civilians engaged in
peaceful political activity.
Unfortunately, the grave and deteriorating human rights situation is
not the only concern of the international community with regard to
Iran. In a speech earlier today, the Iranian president declared Iran a
``nuclear state'' due to its ongoing enrichment program. The UN has
spoken in one voice--on three separate occasions--repudiating Iran's
ongoing enrichment of nuclear material in violation of its
international obligations.
As the United Nations considers a fourth round of sanctions against
Iran, the United States has imposed a new round of unilateral
sanctions. Just yesterday, Treasury announced sanctions targeting the
Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, or IRGC, for its involvement in
spearheading Iran's nuclear and missile programs. As the IRGC continues
to consolidate control over the Iranian economy, including the
telecommunications sector, it is crucial to ensure that the Government
of Iran is held to account for its ongoing violations of international
law and activities which have made it a growing threat to global
security.
The people taking to the streets in Iran are some of the most
courageous in the world, and Congress will continue to reiterate its
support for their right to have their voices heard. We will not sit
idly by as the Government of Iran continues to deny its people
essential freedoms and human rights, and we will put the Iranian
Government--or any government which aims to silence its people--on
notice that its behavior is unacceptable to the United States.
As President Obama stated in his Nobel Peace Prize acceptance speech:
We will bear witness to the quiet dignity of reformers . .
. to the hundreds of thousands who have marched silently
through the streets of Iran. It is telling that the leaders
of these governments fear the aspirations of their own people
more than the power of any other nation. And it is the
responsibility of all free people and free nations to make
clear to these movements that hope and history are on their
side.
The ACTING PRESIDENT pro tempore. The Senator from Arizona.
Mr. McCAIN. Mr. President, first, I thank my friend, the Senator from
Delaware, for his strong statement. I thank him for his support of
freedom and democracy in Iran. I thank him for his longtime advocacy of
human rights. I and others are pleased to have the opportunity to work
with him in a common cause of human rights and democracy. I thank the
Senator from Delaware.
Mr. KAUFMAN. I thank the Senator.
Mr. McCAIN. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent to have a colloquy
with the Senator from Connecticut, Mr. Lieberman, and I am aware of the
time constraints of being in morning business.
The ACTING PRESIDENT pro tempore. Without objection, it is so
ordered.
Mr. McCAIN. Mr. President, today is the 31st anniversary of the
Islamic Republic. Unfortunately, it is a record that many would rather
forget--31 years of economic potential lost, stolen by a corrupt elite.
We know what has gone on over the last 31 years.
Right now, as we speak, if anyone watching wants to turn on cable
news,
[[Page S590]]
turn on FOX News, they will see videos coming out of Tehran of innocent
people, young and old, being beaten and tortured and taken away to
prison where unspeakable things are done to them as the people of Iran
are standing up and demonstrating, again, their commitment, their
courage, their sacrifice on behalf of a free and open democracy and
society. We are watching as Iranian men and women, many not more than
young boys and girls, are rounded up in their homes and dormitories,
hauled away unlawfully to face torture and other abuses in the darkest
corners of the country where the eyes of the international community
struggle to see. These are unacceptable, unspeakable crimes that are
being committed on the Iranian people, and we and the world must stand
up against it. I appreciate being part of an effort, along with my
friend from Connecticut--both sides, a bipartisan effort--to take
action on the part of these people in Iran. Turn on FOX News, I say to
my friends. They will see the videos coming out of Tehran of the
brutality that is being inflicted on innocent Iranians who are trying
to just have the God-given right to freedom and democracy.
I thank my friend from Connecticut. This resolution we are submitting
today has two parts. It would require the President to compile a public
list of individuals in Iran who, starting with the Presidential
election last June, are complicit in human rights violations against
Iranian citizens and their families. No matter where in the world these
abuses occur, I want to stress this will be a public list. You will
know their names. You will know their faces. You will know what they
have done. And we will make them famous. They are war criminals, and
they should be taken to The Hague for trial. The bill would then ban
these Iranian individuals from receiving U.S. visas and impose on them
the full battery of sanctions under the International Emergency
Economic Powers Act. That means freezing any assets and blocking any
property they hold under U.S. jurisdiction, et cetera.
This Nation has always stood for the human rights of people
throughout the world. We stood up for the people behind the Iron
Curtain. We provided Lech Walesa with a printing press. Now we need to
help the Iranian people with the means to use the Internet to
communicate, to resist.
I hear back and forth that the Iranian people are without a leader.
They have leaders. They have thousands and thousands of leaders who are
in the streets right now demonstrating for freedom and putting their
very lives at risk.
I thank my colleague from Connecticut and ask him if he has
additional comments on this disturbing reality that is unfolding before
our eyes as we stand on the floor of the Senate.
Mr. LIEBERMAN. Mr. President, I thank my friend from Arizona, Mr.
McCain, first for his leadership on this issue, which is consistent
with a lifetime of support for America's freedom agenda, for the
principles that are enshrined in our Declaration of Independence and
that have always been at the center of our foreign policy when it has
been at its best.
This is a day of history. It is a day of history on the streets of
Tehran and other cities in Iran on this 31st anniversary of the Iranian
revolution.
I heard a report today. It encapsulates what has happened to that
revolution. Today, apparently, the granddaughter of Ayatollah Khamenei
was arrested as a street protester. When they realized who she was,
they immediately let her go.
Mr. McCAIN. Will the Senator yield? I also heard that the wife of one
of the opposition leaders was beaten in the streets today. Did the
Senator hear that?
Mr. LIEBERMAN. Mr. President, I say to my friend, I did. That is the
wife of the former Prime Minister, I believe, Mr. Mousavi. His wife was
beaten on the streets of Tehran today.
This is a day of history in Tehran, and I hope we can make it a day
of history in the U.S. Congress because if this legislation which
Senator McCain and I and a bipartisan group of other Senators introduce
is adopted, it will be the first time we impose economic sanctions on
Iranian leaders for the human rights abuses of their own people.
We have come full circle. We have obviously been concerned about
Iran's sponsorship of terrorism. It is still the No. 1 state sponsor of
terrorism in the world, according to the State Department. Second, its
nuclear weapons program menaces its neighbors in the world. But as so
often happens with countries that threaten their neighbors in the
world, that have no regard for human life, ultimately we come back to
their core. And the core of the Iranian regime is rotten. It is rotten
because it treats its own people not just with disrespect but with
brutality. As my friend from Arizona has said, look at the television.
Look at YouTube. Read the Internet, the text messages about what is
happening on the streets of Iran as we speak today: remarkable
demonstrations of courage by the people coming out to protest, to
simply ask for their freedom, and unbelievable brutality against them
for doing nothing more than asking for their universal human rights.
Mr. McCAIN. Mr. President, I ask my friend, I believe that last year
an attempt was made to establish some kind of relationship and dialog
with the Iranian Government--in other words, to have an unclenched
fist. Will my friend comment on what success that has been?
Mr. LIEBERMAN. Yes, indeed. I thank the Senator from Arizona.
President Obama adopted the policy of reaching out to the Iranian
regime. Personally, I thought he did the right thing. What he got in
return for his outstretched hand was a clenched fist.
I think the only thing constructive that has come out of this attempt
to engage the Iranians, to begin a new chapter, to give them a peaceful
way to avoid conflict with the rest of the world, the only constructive
result of it is that we see that the problem in the relations between
the United States and Iran is not the United States, it is the
oppressive, extremist regime in Tehran.
I think it is clear that President Obama has not only been
disappointed but grows impatient and, I will say from what I perceive,
angered by what has happened. That explains the increasing move,
including just in the last day or two, of the imposition of new
sanctions on companies related to the Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corps
and individuals. This regime will not stop its nuclear weapons program,
in my opinion, will not stop its support of terrorist killers, will not
stop suppressing the human rights of its people unless it feels pain,
unless it feels that perhaps its regime is in jeopardy. We can only do
that now with tough sanctions, such as those that are proposed in the
legislation we introduce today.
Mr. McCAIN. Mr. President, I say to my friend from Connecticut, isn't
it also true that there are certain elements who say: Don't do these
things--the sanctions and actions we are trying to take--you only hurt
the Iranian people. Isn't it true that the demonstrators in the streets
of Tehran were chanting: Obama, Obama, are you with us or are you with
them?
What would be the effect on the Iranian people if we impose these
sanctions?
Mr. LIEBERMAN. The Senator from Arizona is very clear that these
sanctions directed against the thugs in the Iranian Government who
brutally suppress the rights of their own people will be very popular
with the people of Iran. In my opinion, the economic sanctions that
would be imposed in the legislation that passed the Senate unanimously
about 10 days ago--those sanctions are tough, but if we have any hope
of achieving an end to the Iranian nuclear weapons program through
diplomacy, it has to be coupled with tough economic sanctions or else
we will be left with no alternative but military action.
There is a difference between the regime in Iran and the people of
Iran. The people of Iran want a change in the regime, it is clear.
There is nothing inherently at odds between the American people and the
people of Iran. As a matter of fact, we have all sorts of histories and
values and goals in common. The problem is the extremist, brutal,
aggressive regime in Tehran, and the sooner it goes, the better.
I hope the people of Iran hear this legislation we are introducing
today, under the leadership of Senator McCain, as an expression of
unanimity across party lines and ideological lines
[[Page S591]]
on behalf of the people of America that we stand with the people of
Iran against the Government of Iran as it attempts to suppress the
people.
Mr. McCAIN. Finally, I would like to ask my friend, we were together
in Munich over the weekend. The Foreign Minister of Iran came and
spoke. I wish everyone in the world could have seen that performance--
one, a complete denial that they are on the path to acquisition of
nuclear weapons, and, perhaps as important, a denial that any human
rights abuses were taking place anywhere in that country. It was a
remarkable display of hypocrisy and outright lying.
Mr. LIEBERMAN. Mr. President, I was with Senator McCain. It was such
a baldfaced lie because we see Mr. Motaki get up and say Iran is the
most democratic regime in the entire Middle East region and beyond and
says, with regard to our complaints and the Europeans' complaints about
the suppression of the rights of the Iranian people, the execution of
political demonstrators, the jailing of thousands of peaceful political
protesters, that is the law and if they violated the criminal law, they
would be punished for it. When somebody is so detached from the truth
as we know it from what we see with our own eyes, it is hard to trust
them otherwise.
I wish to add a word. If we adopt this proposal, as I believe we can
and will when the general Iranian sanctions bill comes back from
conference, we will have taken a significant first step in the
direction of penalties on the Iranian regime for human rights abuses of
its own people.
I want to use this, and I ask my friend if he agrees that the impact
of this legislation would be magnified many times over if our allied
governments around the world, particularly in Europe, which has a
tradition of support for human rights, also joined us in adopting laws
that impose targeted sanctions against human rights abusers in Iran? It
does not require previous U.N. Security Council action. There is
nothing stopping our Congress or the EU from imposing targeted human
rights sanctions as quickly as possible. I ask my friend if that would
not make the power of what we hope to do in Congress many times more
effective against the tyrants in Tehran.
Mr. McCAIN. I know we are running out of time, but I want to say to
my friend that history does repeat itself. There was a time during the
Cold War when Ronald Reagan spoke out and mentioned Natan Sharansky's
name and he was beaten for it. People said he shouldn't have done that,
but Ronald Reagan said: Take down this wall. People said that was
provocative toward the Soviet Union. You know what Natan Sharansky
said, after he was released from the prison? He said: Those words
reverberated throughout the gulag and gave hope for democracy and
freedom, and made them even more steadfast and encouraged them in the
face of the brutality they underwent in the Soviet gulag.
That is the same message we are sending to the Iranian people with
this legislation. I hope we will enact it soon. We will not slack nor
will we give up until the Iranian people have their God-given rights
restored to them.
Mr. President, I yield the remainder of my time.
Mr. LIEBERMAN. Mr. President, over the past several months, the
Iranian government has carried out an unprecedented campaign of
repression and violence against the Iranian people. Its targets have
spanned everyone from religious clerics to women's rights advocates, as
well as bloggers, students, photographers, children's advocates, human
rights activists, journalists, and members of the political opposition.
In fact, according to Reporters Without Borders, Iran now has more
journalists in prison than any other country in the world.
The targets of the Iranian regime's crackdown have suffered numerous
and varied human rights abuses. Some have been dragged out of their
homes and away from their families in the middle of the night,
disappearing without charge and without process of law. Others have
been beaten and tortured while in government custody, and in some
cases, sexually abused. Still others have been prosecuted in mass
trials by revolutionary courts and punished with draconian prison
sentences, for no reason other than their political beliefs. And some
have been executed. Human Rights Watch has rightly condemned Iran's
crackdown ``a human rights disaster.''
These abuses are ongoing. Just in the last few hours, despite the
efforts of the Iranian government to control the flow of information
from their country, videos have gone up on YouTube showing peaceful
protesters on the streets of Iranian cities being violently broken up,
and individual Iranian citizens brutally beaten, by members of the
Iranian security forces.
These human rights abuses are a clear violation of multiple
international agreements signed by the Iranian government, such as the
International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights.
To be clear, this isn't about the outside world dictating our values
to Iran. This is about the failure of Iran's own leaders to live up to
the international human rights obligations that they themselves
voluntarily committed to, both through the international agreements
they have signed and through their own constitution. All we are asking
of Iran's leaders is that they respect their own laws. Unfortunately,
it is increasingly clear that Iran's government does not respect its
obligations--whether with regard to human rights record or its nuclear
activities.
The legislation that we are introducing today has a clear purpose;
namely, to shine a bright light onto the human rights abuses being
committed in Iran as we speak, and make clear to the people who are
perpetrating them that there is going to be a cost to be paid for doing
so.
I am very encouraged that this legislation has already won the
support of a broad bipartisan coalition of cosponsors--many of whom
unfortunately could not be here today because of the weather. They
include Senators Durbin, Kyl, Bayh, Collins, Casey, Brownback,
Gillibrand, Graham, and Kaufman.
I would especially like to thank my colleague Senator McCain for his
leadership on this issue. As he mentioned, Senator McCain sought to
attach an earlier version of this legislation as an amendment to the
comprehensive Iran sanctions bill that was then on the floor of the
Senate and that the Senate unanimously passed. Although we were unable
to attach Senator McCain's amendment to the broader sanctions bill at
that time for procedural reasons, I remain very hopeful that the human
rights legislation we are introducing today will become part of the
comprehensive Iran sanctions bill when the House and Senate meet in
conference.
And I hope that President Obama will aggressively apply these
sanctions once they are signed into law.
More broadly, I hope that the Obama administration will make human
rights a centerpiece of our Iran policy in the days and weeks ahead. I
understand that, on Monday, there will be what is called a ``Universal
Periodic Review'' of Iran's human rights record at the U.N. Human
Rights Council in Geneva, and that the administration hopes to use this
event to shine a spotlight on the human rights abuses that are being
committed there. I welcome that initiative, and appeal to other
countries to support it as well.
Finally, I would like to appeal to our international partners, in
particular in the European Union, to join us in imposing these kinds of
targeted sanctions against human rights abusers in Iran. We all know
what the Iranian regime has been doing to its people, and I hope that
Europeans in particular--given the importance they attach to human
rights--will not turn a blind eye to these abuses. We don't need to
wait for a U.N. Security Council resolution to do this. There is
nothing stopping the EU from imposing target human rights sanctions
right now.
Mr. President, this is a piece of legislation that has significance
if it is adopted, in effect, we hope, but this is also our way--the 10
of us who have sponsored this legislation, and I would guess every
Member of the Senate when it comes to a vote will vote for it--to say
to two groups of people, first, the government in Iran, that we see
what you are doing, we know what you are doing, it is intolerable, it
is unacceptable, and you will be punished for it; and secondly, to say
to the people of Iran--who have the courage to be in the streets
protesting and asking for
[[Page S592]]
the rights their government is supposed to give them according to
international treaties that Iran itself has signed--we are with you.
The struggle for freedom and justice against tyranny is often a long
one, it is always a hard one, but history tells us that, in the end,
freedom and justice prevail. That means the people of Iran will prevail
over the totalitarian government that now brutally rules them.
I thank the Chair, I thank my friend from Arizona for his leadership,
and I yield the floor.
Mr. REID. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the resolution
be agreed to, the preamble be agreed to, the motions to reconsider be
laid upon the table with no intervening action or debate, and any
statements related to the resolution be printed in the Record.
The ACTING PRESIDENT pro tempore. Without objection, it is so
ordered.
The resolution (S. Res. 415) was agreed to.
The preamble was agreed to.
The resolution, with its preamble, reads as follows:
S. Res. 415
Whereas the Government of the Islamic Republic of Iran has
violated international standards for human rights by using
violence to disperse peaceful assemblies by its own citizens;
Whereas the Government of the Islamic Republic of Iran
suppressed peaceful commemorations by members of Iran's Green
Movement at the anniversary of Iran's Islamic revolution on
February 11, 2010;
Whereas the Government of the Islamic Republic of Iran's
sustained campaign of violence against Iranian citizens who
have peacefully protested the irregularities in the flawed
Iranian presidential elections of June 12, 2009 has
demonstrated to the world that the present Iranian regime is
fully capable of widespread violence against its own
citizens;
Whereas the Government of the Islamic Republic of Iran
currently has 65 journalists and bloggers imprisoned, more
than any single country in the world, according to Reporters
without Borders and in the past week arrested 10 journalists;
Whereas the Government of the Islamic Republic of Iran has
restricted access to the internet, including its recent
announcement to permanently block Google's Gmail service;
Whereas Iranian citizen's right to due process has been
violated, with the judiciary detaining government critics and
religious minorities, and ordering executions of peaceful
demonstrators;
Whereas the use of arbitrary detention and the infliction
of cruel and degrading punishments by the Iranian authorities
are in direct violation of Articles 7, 9 and 10 of the
International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR)
as well as Articles 22 (the right to human dignity), 36
(Sentencing in accordance with the law), 38 (prohibition of
torture) and 39 (the rights of arrested persons) of the
Iranian Constitution.
Resolved, That the Senate of the United States:
(1) pays tribute to the courageous advocates for democracy
and human rights in the Islamic Republic of Iran who are
engaged in peaceful efforts to encourage democratic reform;
(2) notes that it is the right of the people of the Islamic
Republic of Iran to peacefully assemble and to express their
opinions and aspirations without intimidation, repression,
and violence;
(3) supports freedom of speech in the Islamic Republic of
Iran as elsewhere and the ability of journalists and bloggers
to report without repression by government authorities;
(4) desires that the men and women of Iran be able to enjoy
due process in the Iranian judicial system including the
right to a fair trial;
(5) expresses serious concern over the Government of the
Islamic Republic of Iran's brutal suppression of its citizens
through censorship, imprisonment, and continued acts of
violence;
(6) denounces the atmosphere of impunity in the Islamic
Republic of Iran for those who employ intimidation,
harassment, or violence to restrict and suppress freedom of
speech, freedom of expression, freedom of assembly, and
freedom of the press;
(7) urges the Government of the Islamic Republic of Iran to
fully observe the ICCPR, which has been ratified by the
Islamic Republic of Iran and states, ``Everyone shall have
the right to freedom of expression; this right shall include
freedom to seek, receive and impart information and ideas of
all kinds, regardless of frontiers, either orally, in writing
or in print, in the form of art, or through any other media
of his choice''.
(8) calls upon the Islamic Republic of Iran to abide by the
resolutions adopted by the U.N. General Assembly, in
particular the resolution on the situation of human rights in
the Islamic Republic of Iran of December 2009;
(9) communicates deep concern that, despite the Islamic
Republic of Iran's standing invitation to all thematic
special procedures mandate holders, it has not fulfilled any
requests from those special mechanisms to visit the country
in four years and has not answered numerous communications
from those special mechanisms, and strongly urges the
Government of the Islamic Republic of Iran to fully cooperate
with the special mechanisms, especially the Special
Rapporteur on extrajudicial, summary or arbitrary executions,
the Special Rapporteur on torture and other cruel, inhuman or
degrading treatment or punishment, the Special Rapporteur on
the promotion and protection of the right to freedom of
opinion and expression, the Special Rapporteur on the
situation of human rights defenders, the Working Group on
Arbitrary Detention and the Working Group on Enforced or
Involuntary Disappearances;
(10) encourages the UN Human Rights Council to fully
examine these issues during its Universal Periodic Review of
the Islamic Republic of Iran on February 15, 2010.
Mr. REID. Mr. President, I would briefly say I appreciate this being
accepted. I spoke to Senator McCain earlier today. He and Senator
Lieberman gave speeches on the Senate floor today regarding human
rights in Iran. They are very timely and I appreciate their statements.
____________________