[Congressional Record Volume 169, Number 32 (Thursday, February 16, 2023)]
[Senate]
[Pages S462-S463]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




    SENATE RESOLUTION 74--CONDEMNING THE GOVERNMENT OF IRAN'S STATE-
    SPONSORED PERSECUTION OF THE BAHA'I MINORITY AND ITS CONTINUED 
        VIOLATION OF THE INTERNATIONAL COVENANTS ON HUMAN RIGHTS

  Mr. WYDEN (for himself, Mr. Rubio, Mr. Durbin, Mr. Boozman, Mr. 
Whitehouse, Mrs. Feinstein, Mr. Kelly, Mr. Hickenlooper, Ms. Rosen, Ms. 
Hirono, Ms. Sinema, Mr. Cardin, Mrs. Shaheen, Mr. Warnock, Ms. Hassan, 
Mr. Murphy, Mr. Merkley, Mr. Blumenthal, Mr. Kaine, Mr. Coons, Mr. 
Welch, Mr. Braun, Mrs. Capito, and Mr. Van Hollen) submitted the 
following resolution; which was referred to the Committee on Foreign 
Relations:

                               S. Res. 74

       Whereas, in 1982, 1984, 1988, 1990, 1992, 1993, 1994, 1996, 
     2000, 2004, 2006, 2008, 2009, 2012, 2013, 2015, 2016, 2017, 
     2018, 2020, and 2022, 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, since 1979, Iranian authorities have killed or 
     executed more than 200 Baha'i leaders, and more than 10,000 
     Baha'is have been dismissed from government and university 
     jobs;
       Whereas, on December 15, 2022, the United Nations General 
     Assembly adopted a resolution (A/C.3/77/L.34) criticizing 
     Iran for human rights abuses and calling on Iran to carry out 
     wide-ranging reforms, including--
       (1) to end its ``continuing disregard for protections under 
     Iranian law or internationally recognized safeguards relating 
     to the imposition of the death penalty'' and ``to commute the 
     sentences for child offenders on death row'';
       (2) ``to ensure, in law and in practice, that no one is 
     subjected to torture or other cruel, inhumane or degrading 
     treatment'';
       (3) ``to cease the widespread and systematic use of 
     arbitrary arrests and detention'';
       (4) ``to release persons detained for the exercise of their 
     human rights and fundamental freedoms'';
       (5) ``to address the poor conditions of prisons'';
       (6) ``to eliminate, in law and in practice, all forms of 
     systemic discrimination and other human rights violations 
     against women and girls'';
       (7) to cease ``the increased harassment, intimidation, 
     persecution, arbitrary arrest and detention of, and 
     incitement to hatred that leads to violence against, persons 
     belonging to recognized and unrecognized religious 
     minorities, including Christians (particularly converts from 
     Islam), Gonabadi Dervishes, Jews, Sufi Muslims, Sunni 
     Muslims, Yarsanis, Zoroastrians, and, in particular, Baha'is, 
     who have been subjected to a sudden increase in persecution, 
     who have faced increasing restrictions and systemic 
     persecution by the Government of the Islamic Republic of Iran 
     on account of their faith and have been reportedly subjected 
     to mass arrests and lengthy prison sentences, as well as the 
     arrest of prominent members and increased confiscation and 
     destruction of property''; and
       (8) ``to release all religious practitioners imprisoned for 
     their membership in or activities on behalf of a minority 
     religious group, to cease the desecration of cemeteries and 
     to ensure that everyone has the right to freedom of thought, 
     conscience and religion or belief'';
       Whereas, in the 2022 Annual Report of the United States 
     Commission on International Religious Freedom issued in April 
     2022, it is reported that--
       (1) the Government of Iran ``arrested scores of Baha'is 
     across Iran'', many of whom ``were held incommunicado or 
     taken to undisclosed locations'';
       (2) ``Iranian universities continued to deny education to 
     Baha'is on account of their faith'';
       (3) government agents ``closed six Baha'i businesses'';
       (4) government officials ``demolished the homes of three 
     Baha'is without warning''; and
       (5) the Government of Iran ``announced the auction of 
     thirteen Baha'i farms'';
       Whereas the Iran section of the Department of State's 2021 
     Report on International Religious Freedom issued in June 2022 
     provides, in part--
       (1) ``Authorities continued to confiscate Baha'i properties 
     as part of an ongoing state-led campaign of economic 
     persecution against Baha'is.'';

[[Page S463]]

       (2) ``Authorities reportedly continued to deny the Baha'i, 
     Sabean-Mandaean, and Yarsani religious communities, as well 
     as members of other unrecognized religious minorities, access 
     to education and government employment unless they declared 
     themselves as belonging to one of the country's recognized 
     religions on their application forms.''; and
       (3) ``Government officials continued to disseminate anti-
     Baha'i and antisemitic messages using traditional and social 
     media.'';
       Whereas, in response to a surge in persecution in June and 
     July 2022, involving the subjection of over 100 Baha'is to 
     arrests, arraignments, sentencing, and raids on their homes 
     and businesses across Iran, including the sentencing in June 
     of 26 individuals in the city of Shiraz to a combined total 
     of 85 years in prison, the Department of State's Office of 
     International Religious Freedom issued a statement on August 
     2, 2022, indicating that ``[a]mid a continued rise in 
     arrests, sentences, and imprisonments, the U.S. urges Iran to 
     halt its ongoing oppression of the Baha'i community and honor 
     its international obligations to respect the right of all 
     Iranians to freedom of religion or belief'';
       Whereas, on November 21, 2022, Mahvash Sabet and Fariba 
     Kamalabadi, 2 former members of the informal 7-person 
     leadership group of the Baha'is of Iran, who each served 10-
     year sentences from 2008 to 2018 and have been detained since 
     July 31, 2022, in Evin prison, were sentenced to 10 years in 
     prison each after a summary trial lasting 1 hour;
       Whereas, on December 11, 2022, the Baha'i International 
     Community organization stated that ``Dr. Shirin Ebadi, the 
     Nobel laureate and defence lawyer for Mahvash and Fariba 
     during their first trial, said in 2008 that `not a shred of 
     evidence' was offered to prove the national security charges 
     or other allegations. Nor was any new evidence forthcoming at 
     this latest trial'';
       Whereas, on December 11, 2022, the Baha'i International 
     Community organization reported, ``More than 320 Baha'is have 
     been affected by individual acts of persecution since the 
     arrest of Mahvash and Fariba. Dozens were arrested at various 
     points in Shiraz, across Mazandaran province, and elsewhere 
     throughout the country. Homes owned by Baha'is in the village 
     of Roshankouh were demolished. Government plans to tar the 
     Baha'is through hate speech and propaganda were also exposed. 
     And at least 90 Baha'is are currently in prison or subject to 
     degrading ankle-band monitoring.'';
       Whereas Iran is a member of the United Nations and a 
     signatory to both the Universal Declaration of Human Rights 
     and the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, 
     among other international human rights treaties, without 
     reservation;
       Whereas section 105 of the Comprehensive Iran Sanctions, 
     Accountability, and Divestment Act of 2010 (22 U.S.C. 8514) 
     authorizes the President to impose sanctions on individuals 
     who are ``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''; and
       Whereas the Iran Threat Reduction and Syria Human Rights 
     Act of 2012 (Public Law 112-158) amends and expands the 
     authorities established under the Comprehensive Iran 
     Sanctions, Accountability, and Divestment Act of 2010 (Public 
     Law 111-195) to sanction Iranian human rights abusers: Now, 
     therefore, be it
       Resolved, That the Senate--
       (1) condemns the Government of Iran's state-sponsored 
     persecution of the Baha'i minority in Iran and the continued 
     violation of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and 
     the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights;
       (2) calls on the Government of Iran--
       (A) to immediately release the imprisoned or detained 
     Baha'is and all other prisoners held solely on account of 
     their religion;
       (B) to end its state-sponsored campaign of hate propaganda 
     against the Baha'is; and
       (C) to reverse state-imposed policies denying Baha'is and 
     members of other religious minorities equal opportunities to 
     higher education, earning a livelihood, due process under the 
     law, and the free exercise of religious practices;
       (3) calls on the President and the 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 the Secretary of State to 
     utilize available authorities 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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