[Congressional Record Volume 157, Number 9 (Monday, January 24, 2011)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Page E100]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                           IRANIAN EXECUTIONS

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                          HON. EDWARD R. ROYCE

                             of california

                    in the house of representatives

                        Monday, January 24, 2011

  Mr. ROYCE. Mr. Speaker, in late 2009, Iranian dissidents took to the 
streets to protest the fraudulent election of President Mahmoud 
Ahmadinejad in what would become Iran's Green Movement. These 
protesters stood up to hard-line government militias, which fired on 
crowds and raided universities, killing dozens, injuring scores more, 
and imprisoning thousands.
  Today, the thuggish Iranian regime went a step further. In what was 
undoubtedly meant as a message to the pro-democracy opposition, two 
political activists who had protested the 2009 election--Ja'far Kazemi 
and Mohammad Ali Haj Aghaie--were executed. Hanged, Mr. Speaker. Death 
by hanging. . . .
  Last Congress, the President signed into law an Iran sanctions bill. 
One provision targets those in Iran committing the human rights abuses. 
So far, the Administration has targeted just eight individuals for 
their involvement in beatings and torture. Sadly, Monday's events show 
there are many, many more human rights abusers to target. Anybody who 
has quashed the human rights of those seeking democracy deserves to be 
on this list.

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