[Congressional Record Volume 166, Number 47 (Wednesday, March 11, 2020)]
[Senate]
[Pages S1705-S1706]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                         SUBMITTED RESOLUTIONS

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 SENATE RESOLUTION 539--SUPPORTING THE RIGHTS OF THE PEOPLE OF IRAN TO 
DETERMINE THEIR FUTURE, CONDEMNING THE IRANIAN REGIME FOR ITS CRACKDOWN 
             ON LEGITIMATE PROTESTS, AND FOR OTHER PURPOSES

  Mr. CARDIN (for himself, Mrs. Shaheen, Mr. Kaine, and Ms. Rosen) 
submitted the following resolution; which was referred to the Committee 
on Foreign Relations:

                              S. Res. 539

       Whereas, on January 8, 2020, the Government of Iran shot 
     down Ukraine International Airlines Flight 752, lied about 
     its culpability, and then admitted to downing the plane on 
     January 11 after evidence was made public by other sources;
       Whereas all 167 passengers and 9 crewmembers aboard Ukraine 
     International Airlines Flight 752 died in the resulting 
     crash;
       Whereas passengers were mostly citizens of Iran, but also 
     included citizens of Canada, Ukraine, Great Britain, 
     Afghanistan, and Sweden;
       Whereas, during January 11 through 13, 2020, protesters 
     gathered across Iran to denounce lying and incompetence by 
     regime leadership with respect to the airline shootdown;
       Whereas video clips of protests from January 11 through 13, 
     2020, showed protestors chanting against Iran's Supreme 
     Leader Ali Khamene'i and the IRGC;
       Whereas video clips suggest Iranian authorities deployed 
     tear gas and live ammunition against protestors in January 
     2020;
       Whereas earlier antigovernment protests in Iran began on 
     November 15, 2019, and rapidly spread to dozens of Iranian 
     cities in 29 of Iran's 31 provinces, in the most significant 
     antigovernment protests in Iran since the Green Movement 
     demonstrations in 2009 and 2010;
       Whereas the protests began in response to an announced 
     increase on the price of fuel, and protesters expressed 
     numerous economic grievances, while also calling for the 
     structural reform of the political system and condemning 
     current and former Iranian leaders;
       Whereas reports indicate that Iranian security forces 
     responded to protests with lethal force, killing hundreds of 
     demonstrators and arresting thousands more;
       Whereas reports indicate that the Government of Iran 
     authorities have, in many instances, refused to return 
     victims' bodies to their families and that security forces 
     have removed bodies from morgues and transferred them to 
     unknown locations;
       Whereas, on November 16, 2019, Iranian authorities began 
     implementing a near-total shutdown of internet services, 
     stopping nearly all means of online communications for people 
     inside Iran to prevent the sharing of images and videos of 
     deadly violence being used by security forces;
       Whereas, on November 16, 2019, Iran's Interior Minister 
     Abdolreza Rahmani Fazli suggested that the Iranian regime 
     would no longer show ``tolerance'' toward the protesters;
       Whereas, on November 17, 2019, Iranian Supreme Leader 
     Ayatollah Ali Khamene'i called the demonstrators 
     ``villains'', suggested that protests were incited by foreign 
     enemies and domestic insurgents, and ordered Iranian security 
     services to ``implement their duties'' to end the protests;
       Whereas, on November 18, 2019, the IRGC deployed to the 
     southwestern city of Mahshahr, which had been taken over by 
     demonstrators, and engaged in mass repression over a period 
     of 4 days, reportedly killing as many as 100 people;
       Whereas multiple United States laws provide authorities to 
     designate and sanction elements of the Iranian regime for its 
     repressive conduct, including those involved in significant 
     corruption or serious human rights abuses, including--
       (1) the Comprehensive Iran Sanctions, Accountability, and 
     Divestment Act of 2010 (22 U.S.C. 8501 et seq.);
       (2) the Iran Threat Reduction and Syria Human Rights Act of 
     2012 (22 U.S.C. 8701 et seq.);
       (3) the Countering Iran's Destabilizing Activities Act of 
     2017 (22 U.S.C. 9401 et seq.); and
       (4) the Global Magnitsky Human Rights Accountability Act 
     (subtitle F of title XII of Public Law 114-328; 22 U.S.C. 
     2656 note);
       Whereas the Iranian regime was implicated in a terrorist 
     plot targeting gatherings of Iranian dissidents in Paris in 
     June 2018 and in Albania in March 2018;
       Whereas, in August 2018, the United States Government 
     arrested 2 Iranian nationals who later pleaded guilty for 
     acting on behalf of the Iranian regime to conduct covert 
     surveillance in the United States against officials of the 
     Iranian opposition for a target package which, according to 
     the Department of Justice complaint, may have included 
     ``apprehension, recruitment, cyber exploitation, or capture/
     kill operations'';
       Whereas the Iranian regime has routinely violated the human 
     rights of Iranian citizens, including by implementing 
     ongoing, systematic, and serious restrictions of freedom of 
     peaceful assembly and association and freedom of opinion and 
     expression, including the continuing closures of media 
     outlets, arrests of journalists, and the censorship of 
     expression in online forums such as blogs and websites;
       Whereas, on November 22, 2019, the United States imposed 
     sanctions on Iran's Minister of Information and 
     Communications Technology for his role in shutting down 
     internet access in Iran;
       Whereas the Department of State's most current Human Rights 
     Report noted that the Government of Iran levied ``severe 
     restrictions on free expression, the press, and the internet, 
     including censorship, site blocking, and criminalization of 
     libel; substantial interference with the rights of peaceful 
     assembly and freedom of association, such as overly 
     restrictive nongovernmental organization (NGO) laws; 
     egregious restrictions of religious freedom; restrictions on 
     political participation;'' and that there is ``widespread 
     corruption at all levels of government'';
       Whereas, on November 18, 2019, the Office of the German 
     Chancellor stated, ``It is legitimate and deserving of our 
     respect when people courageously air their economic and 
     political grievances, as is currently happening in Iran. . 
     .We urge the government in Tehran to respect freedom of 
     assembly and expression.'';
       Whereas, on November 20, 2019, the French Foreign Ministry 
     stated, ``France is following the demonstrations taking place 
     in Iran with concern. It expresses its deep concern at 
     reports that a large respect its international human rights 
     obligations.'';
       Whereas, on December 2, 2019, a statement from Amnesty 
     International confirmed that ``extensive video footage 
     verified and analyzed by Amnesty International's Digital 
     Verification Corps shows security forces shooting at unarmed 
     protesters who did not pose any imminent risk'';
       Whereas, on December 6, 2019, United Nation's High 
     Commissioner for Human Rights Michelle Bachelet said, 
     ``Verified video footage indicates severe violence was used 
     against protesters, including armed members of security 
     forces shooting from the roof of a justice department 
     building in one city, and from helicopters in another,'' and 
     added that the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner 
     for Human Rights has also received footage showing security 
     forces ``shooting to kill'';
       Whereas, on December 8, 2019, a Declaration by the European 
     Union High Representative for Foreign Affairs and Security 
     Policy Josep Borrell Fontelles stated, ``A growing body of 
     evidence indicates that despite repeated calls for restraint, 
     the Iranian security forces' disproportionate response to 
     recent demonstrations has led to high numbers of deaths and 
     injuries. For the European Union and its Member States, the 
     widespread and disproportionate use of force against 
     nonviolent protestors is unacceptable.'';
       Whereas, on December 16, 2019, Amnesty International 
     further reported that ``[eyewitness testimony] suggests that, 
     almost immediately after the Iranian authorities massacred 
     hundreds. . .participating in nationwide protests, [the 
     authorities] went on to orchestrate a wide-scale clampdown 
     designed to instill fear and prevent anyone from speaking out 
     about what happened'';
       Whereas, on January 17, 2020, the United States designated 
     IRGC General Hassan Shahvarpour, Khuzestan Province's Vali 
     Asr Commander, for his involvement in gross violations of 
     human rights against protestors during the November 15 
     through 18, 2019, protests in Mahshahr, Iran;
       Whereas Iran is a member of the United Nations, voted for 
     the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, and is a state 
     party to the International Covenant on Civil and Political 
     Rights, done at New York December 19, 1966;
       Whereas, during February 2020 parliamentary elections, 
     against the backdrop of regime interference, disqualification 
     of reformist and moderate candidates, and anger over 
     crackdowns on protesters, the majority of the Iranian people 
     chose not to vote, making turnout the lowest in Iran's post-
     1979 history; and
       Whereas the Iranian regime has a long history of violent 
     repression of dissent, including--
       (1) in 1988, carrying out the barbaric mass executions of 
     thousands of political prisoners--including teenagers and 
     pregnant women--by hanging and firing squad for refusing to 
     renounce their political affiliations and, in some cases, for 
     possessing or distributing political reading material;
       (2) in 1999, brutally suppressing a student revolt that was 
     one of the largest mass uprisings up until that point in the 
     country since 1979, in a crackdown since referred to as 
     ``Iran's Tiananmen Square'';
       (3) following voting irregularities that resulted in the 
     2009 re-election of Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, cracking down on 
     peaceful political dissent from wide segments of civil 
     society in a cynical attempt to retain its undemocratic grip 
     on power; and

[[Page S1706]]

       (4) beginning in December 2017, and continuing for several 
     months after protests erupted over economic conditions in 
     more than 80 cities, confronting protestors with excessive 
     force that resulted in at least 25 deaths and 4,000 arrests: 
     Now, therefore, be it
       Resolved, That the Senate--
       (1) stands with the people of Iran that are engaged in 
     legitimate protests against an oppressive, corrupt regime;
       (2) supports the right of Iranians to peacefully assemble, 
     without fear of persecution and violence, whether in Iran or 
     internationally;
       (3) respects the proud history and rich culture of the 
     Iranian nation and fully supports efforts by the people of 
     Iran to promote the establishment of basic freedoms that 
     build the foundation for the emergence of a freely elected 
     and transparent republic;
       (4) condemns the Iranian regime's downing of Ukrainian 
     International Airlines Flight 752 and its repeated lying to 
     the people of Iran and around the world about its 
     responsibility for the disaster;
       (5) condemns the Iranian regime for its record of brutal 
     repression against peaceful protests;
       (6) condemns the Iranian regime's serious human rights 
     abuses against Iranians, significant corruption, and 
     destabilizing activities abroad;
       (7) commends the statements of support for protesters from 
     the United States and key United States allies;
       (8) calls on all democratic governments and institutions to 
     support the ability of the people of Iran to live in a free 
     society such that they can exercise their human rights and 
     fundamental freedoms;
       (9) demands that the Iranian regime abide by its 
     international obligations with respect to human rights and 
     civil liberties, including freedoms of peaceful assembly and 
     speech, including for members of the press;
       (10) urges the President to work to convene emergency 
     sessions of the United Nations Security Council and the 
     United Nations Human Rights Council to condemn the ongoing 
     human rights violations perpetrated by the Iranian regime and 
     establish a mechanism by which the Security Council can 
     monitor such violations;
       (11) encourages the United States Government to do 
     everything in its power to ensure the Iranian people have 
     free and uninterrupted access to the internet;
       (12) calls on telecommunications companies to reject 
     requests by the regime to cut off the Iranian people from 
     social media and other communications platforms; and
       (13) urges the President and the Secretary of State to work 
     with the international community to signal through future 
     multilateral and bilateral discussions that the Government of 
     Iran's human rights violations are unacceptable.

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