[Congressional Record Volume 168, Number 158 (Thursday, September 29, 2022)]
[Senate]
[Page S5561]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




 SENATE CONCURRENT RESOLUTION 47--COMMENDING THE BRAVERY, COURAGE, AND 
  RESOLVE OF THE WOMEN AND MEN OF IRAN DEMONSTRATING IN MORE THAN 80 
   CITIES AND RISKING THEIR SAFETY TO SPEAK OUT AGAINST THE IRANIAN 
                      REGIME'S HUMAN RIGHTS ABUSES

  Mr. MENENDEZ (for himself, Mrs. Blackburn, Mr. Casey, Mr. Cassidy, 
Ms. Rosen, Mr. Cruz, and Mr. Cramer) submitted the following concurrent 
resolution; which was referred to the Committee on Foreign Relations:
       Whereas, on September 16, 2022, 22-year-old Mahsa Amini 
     passed away in the custody of Iranian ``morality police'' 
     following a 3-day coma due to wounds, including bone 
     fracture, hemorrhage, and cerebral edema consistent with 
     severe beating, inflicted by the police for purportedly 
     wearing a hijab improperly;
       Whereas, on September 17, Iranians gathered in the streets 
     of Tehran to protest the killing of Mahsa Amini;
       Whereas demonstrations have since spread to more than 80 
     cities and 20 universities in Iran, where women are removing 
     or burning hijabs, cutting their hair, and dancing in front 
     of Iranian security forces, joined by their fellow Iranian 
     citizens;
       Whereas Iranian security forces have responded to such 
     demonstrations with violence and detentions, including 
     detentions of journalists and activists for covering the 
     protests;
       Whereas the security forces have killed a reported 76 
     protestors, including at least 4 children; however, the 
     number of injuries and deaths is likely higher but 
     unobtainable due to internet blackouts;
       Whereas at least 1,200 Iranians have been arrested across 
     Iran according to official sources, and many thousands more 
     have been detained according to independent reports;
       Whereas videos, images, and demonstrations have spread to 
     social media platforms and are an important way for the 
     voices of the Iranian people to be heard;
       Whereas internet monitoring groups have reported that the 
     Iranian regime has--
       (1) caused near-total disruption of internet connectivity 
     in parts of Iran and partial disruptions in city centers; and
       (2) blocked WhatsApp, Twitter, Telegram, Facebook, 
     Instagram, and video games with chat functions;

       Whereas common protest chants include--
       (1) ``Women, life, and freedom!'';
       (2) ``Iranians die but will not be suppressed!''; and
       (3) ``Death to the dictator Ayatollah Ali Khamenei!'';

       Whereas the Iranian regime has a long history of structural 
     and legal discrimination against women, including barriers 
     for women seeking justice against domestic violence and 
     criminal prohibitions against women singing or showing hair 
     in public and studying certain technical subjects;
       Whereas the Iranian regime approved of ``depriving one 
     social right or more'' for any woman who posts an unveiled 
     picture of herself on social media, and, in August 2022, 
     approved of enforcing mandatory hijab laws through facial 
     recognition;
       Whereas, through misogynistic criminal statutes, the 
     Iranian regime for decades has detained and engaged in the 
     ongoing persecution of women, including--
       (1) Saba Kord Afshari, who was sentenced to 15 years in 
     prison for posting videos to social media without a hijab and 
     transferred into Ward 6 of the notorious Qarchak Women's 
     Prison, identified by the Secretary of the Treasury for gross 
     violations of human rights;
       (2) Raheleh Ahmadi, mother of Afshari, who was sentenced to 
     2 years in prison for advocacy on behalf of Afshari;
       (3) Yasaman Aryani, her mother Monireh Arabshahi, and 
     Mojgan Keshavarz, who were sentenced to between 16 and 23 
     years in prison for posting a video for International Women's 
     Day in 2019, during which they walked without headscarves 
     through a metro train in Tehran, handing flowers to female 
     passengers;
       (4) human rights attorney Nasrin Sotoudeh, who was 
     sentenced in 2019 to 38 years in prison and 148 lashes for 
     providing legal defense services to women charged with not 
     wearing a hijab;
       (5) Narges Mohammadi, a prominent rights advocate, who--
          (A) was arrested in November 2019 on the second 
     anniversary of countrywide protests and is currently serving 
     a 2-year sentence in prison; and
          (B) previously, had been sentenced to 10 years in prison 
     in May 2015 for ``establishing an illegal group'', ``assembly 
     and collusion to act against national security'', and 
     ``propaganda against the state'';
       (6) former Vice President for Women and Family Affairs 
     Shahindokht Molaverdi, who was charged with encouraging 
     ``corruption, prostitution, and sexual deviance'', a common 
     charge against women refusing mandatory hijab laws, and 
     sentenced in December 2020 to 30 months in prison for 
     defending the right of women to attend sporting events and 
     criticizing the practice of child marriage;
       (7) six women who were sentenced by the Culture and Media 
     Court of Tehran in July 2022 to each serve 1 year in prison 
     for the offense of singing songs in public;
       (8) Niloufar Hamedi, one of the first Iranian journalists 
     to report on Mahsa Amini's death, who was arrested on 
     September 22, 2022, and is being held in solitary 
     confinement; and
       (9) countless other women; and

       Whereas peaceful protests in Iran over the last year have 
     focused on grievances that include--
       (1) mismanagement of the economy and national resources;
       (2) prioritization of funding for terror groups and pariah 
     regimes over social services for the people of Iran; and
       (3) widespread political corruption: Now, therefore, be it
       Resolved by the Senate (the House of Representatives 
     concurring), That Congress--
       (1) commends the bravery, courage, and resolve of the women 
     and men of Iran who are--
       (A) participating in the current protests to defend their 
     fundamental human rights; and
       (B) risking their safety to speak out against the human 
     rights abuses committed by the Iranian regime;
       (2) condemns--
       (A) the brutal beating and death of Mahsa Amini; and
       (B) the violent suppression by the Iranian regime of women 
     and men participating in the current demonstrations, 
     including children, and calls for transparent accountability 
     for all killings of protesters by Iranian security forces;
       (3) supports internet freedom programs that circumvent the 
     regime, including the Open Technology Fund, which provides 
     support for VPNs and other alternatives that can be used to 
     bypass attempts by authoritarian governments to censor 
     internet access during times of protest, and commends private 
     entities willing to provide programs to circumvent such 
     censorship;
       (4) encourages continued efforts by the Biden 
     Administration to respond to the protests, including the 
     recent sanctioning of the Iranian morality police, and 
     further encourages the Biden Administration--
       (A) to immediately impose, under existing authorities, 
     additional human rights sanctions on officials and entities 
     responsible for the repression of the current protests;
       (B) to prioritize efforts to expand unrestricted internet 
     access in Iran, consistent with existing law; and
       (C) to work to develop a strategy to prevent the Iranian 
     regime from obtaining and exploiting facial recognition data 
     and software for the use of mass surveillance and enforcement 
     of mandatory hijab; and
       (5) encourages the private sector, following the recent 
     clarification by the Biden Administration of sanctions 
     exemptions on communications technology, to work with the 
     Biden Administration to ensure protestors and activists have 
     access to tools needed to circumvent government surveillance 
     and repression; and
       (6) welcomes the efforts of the international community to 
     support protestors in Iran, and calls on the international 
     community--
       (A) to publicly condemn violence by the Iranian regime 
     against peaceful protesters;
       (B) to speak out against violations by the regime of 
     fundamental human rights, including the freedom of 
     expression, assembly, and redress of grievances of the 
     Iranian people; and
       (C) impose human rights sanctions on officials and entities 
     that are responsible for the repression of current protests 
     and involved in violating the human rights of the Iranian 
     people.

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