[Congressional Record Volume 161, Number 184 (Thursday, December 17, 2015)]
[Senate]
[Page S8831]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




CONDEMNING THE GOVERNMENT OF IRAN'S STATE-SPONSORED PERSECUTION OF ITS 
   BAHA'I MINORITY AND ITS CONTINUED VIOLATION OF THE INTERNATIONAL 
                       COVENANTS ON HUMAN RIGHTS

  Mr. McCONNELL. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the Senate 
proceed to the immediate consideration of Calendar No. 263, S. Res. 
148.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The clerk will report the resolution by title.
  The senior assistant legislative clerk read as follows:

       A resolution (S. Res. 148) condemning the Government of 
     Iran's state-sponsored persecution of its Baha'i minority and 
     its continued violation of the International Covenants on 
     Human Rights.

  There being no objection, the Senate proceeded to consider the 
resolution.
  Mr. McCONNELL. I ask unanimous consent that the Kirk amendment to the 
resolution be agreed to; the resolution, as amended, be agreed to; the 
Kirk amendment to the preamble be agreed to; the preamble, as amended, 
be agreed to; and that the motions to reconsider be considered made and 
laid upon the table.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. Without objection, it is so ordered.
  The amendment (No. 2934) was agreed to, as follows:

               (Purpose: To make a technical correction)

       On page 5, line 8, strike ``12'' and insert ``9''.

  The resolution (S. Res. 148), as amended, was agreed to.
  The amendment (No. 2935) was agreed to, as follows:

                (Purpose: To make technical corrections)

       In the tenth whereas clause of the preamble, strike ``12'' 
     and insert ``9''.
       In the thirteenth whereas clause of the preamble, strike 
     ``100'' and insert ``71''.

  The preamble, as amended, was agreed to.
  The resolution, as amended, with its preamble, as amended, reads as 
follows:

                              S. Res. 148

       Whereas, in 1982, 1984, 1988, 1990, 1992, 1993, 1994, 1996, 
     2000, 2004, 2006, 2008, 2009, 2012, and 2013, Congress 
     declared that it deplored the religious persecution by the 
     Government of Iran of the Baha'i community and would hold the 
     Government of Iran responsible for upholding the rights of 
     all Iranian nationals, including members of the Baha'i Faith;
       Whereas the United States Commission on International 
     Religious Freedom 2014 Report stated, ``The Baha'i community, 
     the largest non-Muslim religious minority in Iran, long has 
     been subject to particularly severe religious freedom 
     violations. The government views Baha'is, who number at least 
     300,000, as `heretics' and consequently they face repression 
     on the grounds of apostasy.'';
       Whereas the United States Commission on International 
     Religious Freedom 2014 Report stated that ``[s]ince 1979, 
     authorities have killed or executed more than 200 Baha'i 
     leaders, and more than 10,000 have been dismissed from 
     government and university jobs'' and ``[m]ore than 700 
     Baha'is have been arbitrarily arrested since 2005'';
       Whereas the Department of State 2013 International 
     Religious Freedom Report stated that the Government of Iran 
     ``prohibits Baha'is from teaching and practicing their faith 
     and subjects them to many forms of discrimination not faced 
     by members of other religious groups'' and ``since the 1979 
     Islamic Revolution, formally denies Baha'i students access to 
     higher education'';
       Whereas the Department of State 2013 International 
     Religious Freedom Report stated, ``The government requires 
     Baha'is to register with the police,'' and ``The government 
     raided Baha'i homes and businesses and confiscated large 
     amounts of private and commercial property, as well as 
     religious materials.'';
       Whereas the Department of State 2013 International 
     Religious Freedom Report stated, ``Baha'is are regularly 
     denied compensation for injury or criminal victimization and 
     the right to inherit property.'';
       Whereas, on August 27, 2014, the United Nations Special 
     Rapporteur on the situation of human rights in the Islamic 
     Republic of Iran issued a report (A/69/356), which stated, 
     ``The human rights situation in the Islamic Republic of Iran 
     remains of concern. Numerous issues flagged by the General 
     Assembly, the United Nations human rights mechanisms and the 
     Secretary-General persist, and in some cases appear to have 
     worsened, some recent overtures made by the Administration 
     and the parliament notwithstanding.'';
       Whereas, on December 18, 2014, the United Nations General 
     Assembly adopted a resolution (A/RES/69/190), which 
     ``[e]xpresse[d] deep concern'' over ``[c]ontinued 
     discrimination, persecution and human rights violations 
     against persons belonging to unrecognized religious 
     minorities, particularly members of the Baha'i [F]aith . . . 
     and the effective criminalization of membership in the Baha'i 
     [F]aith,'' and called upon the Government of Iran to 
     ``emancipate the Baha'i community . . . and to accord all 
     Baha'is, including those imprisoned because of their beliefs, 
     the due process of law and the rights that they are 
     constitutionally guaranteed'';
       Whereas, since May of 2008, the Government of Iran has 
     imprisoned the seven members of the former ad hoc leadership 
     group of the Baha'i community in Iran, known as the Yaran-i-
     Iran, or ``friends of Iran''--Mrs. Fariba Kamalabadi, Mr. 
     Jamaloddin Khanjani, Mr. Afif Naeimi, Mr. Saeid Rezaie, Mr. 
     Behrouz Tavakkoli, Mrs. Mahvash Sabet, and Mr. Vahid 
     Tizfahm--and these individuals are serving 20-year prison 
     terms, the longest sentences given to any current prisoner of 
     conscience in Iran, on charges including ``spying for Israel, 
     insulting religious sanctities, propaganda against the regime 
     and spreading corruption on earth'';
       Whereas, beginning in May 2011, officials of the Government 
     of Iran in 4 cities conducted sweeping raids on the homes of 
     dozens of individuals associated with the Baha'i Institute 
     for Higher Education (BIHE) and arrested and detained several 
     educators associated with BIHE, and 9 BIHE educators are now 
     serving 4- or 5-year prison terms;
       Whereas scores of Baha'i cemeteries have been attacked, 
     and, in April 2014, Revolutionary Guards began excavating a 
     Baha'i cemetery in Shiraz, which is the site of 950 graves;
       Whereas the Baha'i International Community reported that 
     there has been a recent surge in anti-Baha'i hate propaganda 
     in Iranian state-sponsored media outlets, noting that, in 
     2010 and 2011, approximately 22 anti-Baha'i articles were 
     appearing every month, and, in 2014, the number of anti-
     Baha'i articles rose to approximately 401 per month--18 times 
     the previous level;
       Whereas there are currently 71 Baha'is in prison in Iran;
       Whereas the Government of Iran is party to the 
     International Covenants on Human Rights and is in violation 
     of its obligations under the Covenants; and
       Whereas the Comprehensive Iran Sanctions, Accountability, 
     and Divestment Act of 2010 (Public Law 111-195) authorizes 
     the President and the Secretary of State to impose sanctions 
     on individuals ``responsible for or complicit in, or 
     responsible for ordering, controlling, or otherwise 
     directing, the commission of serious human rights abuses 
     against citizens of Iran or their family members on or after 
     June 12, 2009'': Now, therefore, be it
       Resolved, That the Senate--
       (1) condemns the Government of Iran's state-sponsored 
     persecution of its Baha'i minority and its continued 
     violation of the International Covenants on Human Rights;
       (2) calls on the Government of Iran to immediately release 
     the 7 imprisoned Baha'i leaders, the 9 imprisoned Baha'i 
     educators, and all other prisoners held solely on account of 
     their religion;
       (3) calls on the President and Secretary of State, in 
     cooperation with responsible nations, to immediately condemn 
     the Government of Iran's continued violation of human rights 
     and demand the immediate release of prisoners held solely on 
     account of their religion; and
       (4) urges the President and Secretary of State to utilize 
     available authorities, including the Comprehensive Iran 
     Sanctions, Accountability, and Divestment Act of 2010, to 
     impose sanctions on officials of the Government of Iran and 
     other individuals directly responsible for serious human 
     rights abuses, including abuses against the Baha'i community 
     of Iran.

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