[Congressional Record Volume 156, Number 88 (Monday, June 14, 2010)]
[Senate]
[Pages S4893-S4894]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
ONE-YEAR ANNIVERSARY OF THE PRESIDENTIAL ELECTION AND CONDEMNING
ONGOING HUMAN RIGHTS ABUSES IN IRAN
Mr. REID. Madam President, I now ask unanimous consent that we
proceed to S. Res. 551.
The PRESIDING OFFICER. The clerk will report the resolution by title.
The assistant legislative clerk read as follows:
A resolution (S. Res. 551) marking the 1-year anniversary
of the June 12, 2009 presidential election in Iran, and
condemning ongoing human rights abuses in Iran.
There being no objection, the Senate proceeded to consider the
resolution.
Mr. REID. I ask unanimous consent that the resolution be agreed to,
the preamble be agreed to, the motions to reconsider be laid on the
table, with no intervening action or debate, and any statements be
printed in the Record.
The PRESIDING OFFICER. Without objection, it is so ordered.
The resolution (S. Res. 551) was agreed to.
The preamble was agreed to.
The resolution, with its preamble, reads as follows:
S. Res. 551
Whereas the Government of Iran has systematically
undertaken a campaign of violence, persecution, and
intimidation against Iranian citizens who have peacefully
protested the results of the deeply flawed Iran presidential
elections of June 12, 2009;
Whereas the 2009 Department of State Country Report on
Human Rights Practices in Iran found that ``[t]he government
[of Iran] severely limited citizens' right to peacefully
change their government through free and fair elections'' and
``. . . severely restricted the right to privacy and civil
liberties, including freedoms of speech and the press,
assembly, association, and movement'';
Whereas hundreds of thousands of peaceful demonstrators
gathered in the streets of Iran in the aftermath of the June
12, 2009, elections, and dozens of innocent Iranians were
killed and more than 4,000 were arbitrarily arrested by
police and security forces and the Basij militia;
Whereas hundreds of Iranian citizens remain in detention
and more than 250 prominent activists and demonstrators were
tried in mass ``show trials'' that began in August 2009, and
at least 50 of these defendants have received sentences
ranging from six months imprisonment to death;
Whereas, on June 20, 2009, a member of the Basij militia
reportedly shot and killed 27 year-old student Neda Agha-
Soltan, whose murder was recorded on a mobile phone camera,
disseminated via the Internet, and became a rallying cry for
the political opposition and Green Movement;
Whereas, since the election, the Government of Iran has
systemically restricted and suppressed free press, free
expression, free assembly, and free access to the Internet
and other forms of connective technology in order to limit
the flow of information and silence political opposition and
other forms of popular dissent;
Whereas the Government of Iran has a deplorable human
rights record that includes severe restrictions on the
freedom of religion or belief, denial of the freedom of
assembly and the rights of civil society, systematic torture
and ill-treatment, and judicial proceedings that lack due
process;
Whereas the Government of Iran continues to operate with
hostility and impunity toward journalists, reformers, ethnic
and religious minorities, political opponents, human rights
defenders, women's rights groups, student activists, and
others, including through unlawful and arbitrary detentions,
arrests, politically motivated sentencing, physical assaults,
and killings;
Whereas human rights activists, journalists, and ethnic and
religious minorities have fled Iran for fear of persecution
and are residing, some in dangerous circumstances, in
neighboring countries seeking refugee status and asylum in
the United States and other countries;
Whereas the Government of Iran has violated its obligations
under the International Covenant on Civil and Political
Rights, the Convention on the Rights of the Child, the
International Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of
Racial Discrimination, and the International Covenant on
Economic, Social and Cultural Rights;
Whereas the 2010 Freedom House Freedom in the World Report
finds that Iran leads the world in the number of jailed
journalists;
Whereas, since the June 2009 election, the Government of
Iran has restricted foreign press access, banned more than 60
international media outlets, and jammed international
broadcasts, including those of Radio Free Europe/Radio
Liberty's Radio Farda, Voice of America's Persian News
Network, the British Broadcasting Corporation, and other non-
Iranian news services;
Whereas, on December 18, 2009, the United Nations General
Assembly passed a resolution condemning ``serious, ongoing
and recurring human rights violations in Iran'' and calling
on the Government of Iran to respect its human rights
obligations;
Whereas, on December 27, 2009, the Ashura holiday, at least
eight civilians were killed in confrontations with
authorities, and police reportedly arrested approximately 300
civilians in relation to popular demonstrations;
Whereas, on February 11, 2010, the anniversary of the
Islamic Revolution, the Government of Iran beat and arrested
numerous protestors, jammed text messaging technology, slowed
and restricted access to the Internet, and blocked email and
news websites, intentionally limiting the ability of Iranian
citizens to communicate and freely access news and
information;
Whereas, on April 19, 2010, the Government of Iran
officially suspended prominent political parties, banned a
reformist newspaper, and sentenced to prison leaders within
the political opposition; and
Whereas activists connected to the 2009 election protests
were recently re-arrested in an attempt to disrupt planned
protests on the one-year anniversary of the election on June
12, 2010: Now, therefore, be it
Resolved, That the Senate--
(1) solemnly marks one year since the flawed June 12, 2009,
presidential election in Iran, and honors Iranian citizens
who have lost their lives in peaceful protest since the
election;
(2) supports the people of Iran as they seek peaceful and
free expression, free speech, free press, free assembly,
unfettered access to the Internet, and freedom of religion
despite a campaign of intimidation, repressions, and violence
perpetrated by the Government of Iran;
(3) commends the people of Iran who have braved the
persistent and pervasive threat of censorship, arrest,
physical harassment, and death to have their voices heard and
peacefully exercise fundamental human rights, as enshrined in
the constitution of Iran and international human rights law,
including the International Covenant on Civil and Political
Rights, entered into force on March 23, 1976, and ratified by
Iran;
(4) condemns the Government of Iran for perpetrating
ongoing human rights abuses and for restricting, monitoring,
and suppressing freedom of the press, expression, assembly,
speech, and religion, as well as free access to the Internet
and other forms of connective technology in order to limit
the flow of information and silence political opposition and
other forms of popular dissent;
(5) denounces the atmosphere of impunity for those who
intimidate, harass, and commit violence against Iranian
citizens, and calls for the unconditional release of all
political and religious prisoners in Iran;
(6) urges the President and Secretary of State to mobilize
resources to support freedom of assembly, freedom of
expression, freedom of the press, freedom of religion, and
freedom of speech in Iran, especially on the June 12
anniversary of the 2009 presidential election;
(7) encourages the President and Secretary of State to work
with the United Nations Human Rights Council to condemn the
ongoing human rights violations perpetrated by the Government
of Iran and establish a monitoring mechanism by which the
Council can monitor such violations;
(8) urges the Government of Iran to cooperate with and
allow visits of the United Nations Special Rapporteurs for
Human Rights and the United Nations Office of the High
Commissioner for Human Rights;
(9) urges the President and Secretary of State to work with
the international community to ensure that violations of
human
[[Page S4894]]
rights are part of all formal and informal multilateral or
bilateral discussions with and regarding Iran; and
(10) calls for the immediate return of all missing and
detained United States citizens in Iran.
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