[Congressional Record Volume 157, Number 139 (Monday, September 19, 2011)]
[Senate]
[Page S5721]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                                  IRAN

  Mr. KYL. Mr. President, recently, international media and diplomatic 
attention has focused on the inspiring stories of citizens across the 
Middle East and North Africa demanding greater participation in their 
government.
  While the regime changes in Libya, Egypt, and Tunisia have certainly 
opened the door for democratic progress in a region long dominated by 
authoritarian rulers, we cannot allow these hopeful aspirations to 
monopolize our focus or distract our attention from the fact that 
brutal and oppressive regimes remain.
  Today, I want to highlight an especially dangerous and odious 
regime--that of Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad and the mullahs 
in Tehran.
  I am seriously concerned by Tehran's continued march toward a nuclear 
weapon. Earlier this month the International Atomic Energy Agency, 
IAEA, published a report confirming the obvious--that Iran remains in 
violation of United Nations Security Council resolutions to halt its 
nuclear program, and that it is not cooperating with the IAEA.
  We also know that the Iranian regime continues to increase its 
support for terrorist groups operating in Iraq; reports also indicate 
that it is providing weapons and assistance to the Assad regime in 
Damascus in its brutal crackdown on the Syrian people.
  Iranian authorities, apparently fearful of the popular unrest that 
swept longtime leaders in Egypt and Tunisia from power--and which is 
currently threatening Bashar al-Assad's dictatorship in Syria--have 
cracked down on dissent and increased the arrest and detention of 
activists and opposition figures in the past months--even arresting 
young people with squirt guns.
  One dissident whose case I have been following is Bahareh Hedayat, a 
student and women's rights activist. Bahareh was arrested in December 
2009 for participating in Iran's prodemocracy student movement and 
placed in solitary confinement in the notorious Evin prison. After 
nearly 2 months of interrogation, she was sentenced to 9\1/2\ years in 
prison for her activism. Her 9\1/2\ year sentence included 5 years for 
``activities against the state,'' 2 years for insulting Supreme Leader 
Khamenei, and 6 months for insulting Mahmoud Ahmadinejad. Iranian 
authorities also reinstated a 2-year sentence she received in 
connection with a 2006 women's rights protest that had been suspended.
  While in prison, Bahareh has endured Evin's harsh conditions, 
interrogation, and a lengthy solitary confinement, all while being 
denied contact with her husband and family. She has kept her spirit and 
has even protested her detention and treatment with hunger strikes. 
However, detention has taken a toll on her and her health has 
deteriorated. Earlier this year she developed gall stones, and while it 
was clear that the prison's facilities could not provide adequate 
treatment, she was only allowed to seek outside care this month. After 
receiving treatment, she was promptly returned to prison last week.
  Bahareh Hedayat and dissidents like her--those who have been brutally 
punished for seeking basic human freedoms--has shown great courage in 
confronting the brutality and intolerance of the Iranian regime. She 
and thousands of others have sacrificed immeasurably to bring about 
reform in Iran, the United States must show similar courage and do all 
in its power to support their vision of a peaceful, free, and 
democratic Iran.

                          ____________________