[Congressional Record Volume 170, Number 180 (Thursday, December 5, 2024)]
[Senate]
[Pages S6830-S6832]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
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. Mr. President, as if in legislative session, I ask
unanimous consent that the Committee on Foreign Relations be discharged
from further consideration and the Senate proceed to S. Res. 74.
The PRESIDING OFFICER. The clerk will report the resolution by title.
The legislative clerk read as follows:
A resolution (S. Res. 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.
There being no objection, the committee was discharged, and the
Senate proceeded to consider the resolution.
Mr. WYDEN. Mr. President, for more than 40 years, this body has been
passing resolutions condemning the Iranian Government's persecution of
the Baha'is.
This nightmare is not going away. In fact, the government of Iran has
only intensified its ruthless agenda against the Baha'is.
Over the last 16 months, attacks against women and violent home raids
have increased, hate speech has spread, and scores of Baha'is remain
behind bars on arbitrary, trumped up charges.
Furthermore, Baha'is face ongoing employment and educational
discrimination, as well as intrusive surveillance and invasive
monitoring. The Baha'is are even denied the right to bury their dead,
and when they do, their cemeteries are often vandalized or destroyed.
Men, women, and children
[[Page S6831]]
bear the brunt of the Iranian Government's fear mongering day in and
day out, with no end in sight.
It is crucial for the Senate to pass my resolution today and strongly
condemn the repressive Iranian Government. The Iranian Government's
long history of harassing, dehumanizing, and persecuting the Baha'i
community in all forms is only getting longer and worse.
The Wyden family knows firsthand about authoritarian regimes
targeting and persecuting individuals on the basis of religion. This
issue is personal to me.
I have been promised for years that this resolution would receive
consideration through the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, but the
committee hasn't taken up this important issue.
My resolution, which has strong bipartisan support, condemns the
government of Iran's state-sanctioned persecution of the Baha'i
community and its continued violation of the Universal Declaration of
Human Rights and the International Covenant of Civil and Political
Rights.
My resolution further calls on the Iranian Government to release all
people detained or imprisoned solely on account of their religion, end
their campaign of hate against the Baha'is, and reverse policies that
deny Baha'is and other religious minorities equal opportunities,
freedoms, and rights under law.
My resolution also calls on the Biden administration to condemn these
human rights violations, push for the release of religious prisoners,
and use its authorities to impose sanctions against those responsible
for these deplorable human rights abuses. I urge my colleagues to vote
in favor of this crucial resolution to hold Iran's government
accountable for its heinous repression of religious minorities.
Mr. President, I know of no further debate on the resolution.
The PRESIDING OFFICER. Hearing no further debate, the question is on
adoption of the resolution.
The resolution (S. Res. 74) was agreed to.
Mr. WYDEN. I ask unanimous consent that the Wyden substitute
amendment at the desk to the preamble be agreed to; that the preamble,
as amended, be agreed to; and that the motions to reconsider be
considered made and laid upon the table.
The amendment (No. 3312) to the preamble in the nature of a
substitute was agreed to as follows:
(Purpose: To amend the preamble)
Strike the preamble and insert the following:
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 June 18, 2023, marked the 40th anniversary of the
execution of 10 Baha'i women by the Government of Iran, each
witnessing the hanging of those hanged before her in a final
failed attempt to induce abandonment of their faith after
over 6 months of imprisonment and violent abuse, with the
youngest only 17 years old;
Whereas, on December 19, 2023, the United Nations General
Assembly adopted a resolution (A/C.3/78/L.41) calling on Iran
to carry out wide-ranging reforms and expressing serious
concerns for its escalating human rights abuses, including--
(1) ``severe limitations and increasing restrictions on the
right to freedom of thought, conscience, religion, or
belief'';
(2) ``restrictions on the establishment of places of
worship, undue restrictions on burials carried out in
accordance with religious tenets, attacks against places of
worship and burial'';
(3) ``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'';
(4) ``denial of and restrictions on access to education,
including for members of the Baha'i faith''; and
(5) ``particular'' persecution of members of the Baha'i
community ``who have been subjected to a continued increase
in persecution, including attacks, harassment and targeting.
. .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'';
Whereas, in the 2024 Annual Report of the United States
Commission on International Religious Freedom issued in May
2024, it is reported that in 2023--
(1) the Government of Iran ``conducted individual and mass
arrests of Baha'is across Iran taking them to undisclosed
locations and imposing excessively long prison sentences'';
(2) ``security officials beat and brutalized Baha'is during
raids and searches of private homes'';
(3) ``security forces arrested scores of Baha'is in cities
including Hamadan, Mehrshahr, Yazd, Karaj, Alborz, and
Tehran'';
(4) the ``government has targeted Baha'i women in
particular'' and that ``[a]pproximately two-thirds of Iranian
Baha'i prisoners are women'';
(5) authorities ``targeted Baha'i cemeteries in Arak,
Alborz, and Golestan''; and
(6) local ``municipalities seized and confiscated Baha'i
land, restricted Baha'i access to burial grounds, and
declared intentions to sell Baha'i-owned property exclusively
to Muslims.'';
Whereas the Iran section of the Department of State's 2022
Report on International Religious Freedom issued in May 2023
provides, in part--
(1) ``[I]n July and August, security forces in cities
across the country conducted multiple raids of Baha'i homes,
confiscated property deemed `illegitimate wealth', and
arrested Baha'is in their homes or workplaces on
unsubstantiated charges including `causing intellectual and
ideological insecurity in Muslim society.' '';
(2) ``Authorities reportedly continued to deny members of
unrecognized religious minority groups access to education
and government employment unless they declared themselves as
belonging to one of the country's recognized religions on
their application forms. UN experts reported universities
rejected more than 90 Baha'i students between January and
August.''; and
(3) ``Government officials and government-affiliated
organizations 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 January 12, 2024, the Baha'i International
Community organization reported increasing incidents of
persecution accompanied by intensified violence perpetrated
against the Baha'i community by the Government of Iran, for
example--
(1) ``since the beginning of October [2023] more than 200
incidents of persecution, including over 50 arrests and
imprisonments, have occurred in various cities such as
Shiraz, Yazd, Isfahan, Hamadan, and Karaj'';
(2) government agents have perpetrated ``increasingly
violent home raids, disproportionately affecting women and
the elderly, and have even resulted in hospitalizations and
traumatic separations of mothers from their children.
Notably, over two-thirds of those arrested and detained have
been women, predominantly in their twenties and thirties,
highlighting the escalation of attacks against women in
recent months.''; and
(3) government agents have instigated a ``conspicuous rise
in hate speech, where Baha'is have been accused of being
behind the September 2022 protests, promoting permissiveness,
being against Islam and Shiism, being spies for Israel and
the West, and being part of a political movement that seeks
to undermine the state'';
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
[[Page S6832]]
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
The preamble, as amended, was agreed to.
The resolution, with its preamble, as amended, reads as follows:
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 June 18, 2023, marked the 40th anniversary of the
execution of 10 Baha'i women by the Government of Iran, each
witnessing the hanging of those hanged before her in a final
failed attempt to induce abandonment of their faith after
over 6 months of imprisonment and violent abuse, with the
youngest only 17 years old;
Whereas, on December 19, 2023, the United Nations General
Assembly adopted a resolution (A/C.3/78/L.41) calling on Iran
to carry out wide-ranging reforms and expressing serious
concerns for its escalating human rights abuses, including--
(1) ``severe limitations and increasing restrictions on the
right to freedom of thought, conscience, religion, or
belief'';
(2) ``restrictions on the establishment of places of
worship, undue restrictions on burials carried out in
accordance with religious tenets, attacks against places of
worship and burial'';
(3) ``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'';
(4) ``denial of and restrictions on access to education,
including for members of the Baha'i faith''; and
(5) ``particular'' persecution of members of the Baha'i
community ``who have been subjected to a continued increase
in persecution, including attacks, harassment and targeting .
. . 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'';
Whereas, in the 2024 Annual Report of the United States
Commission on International Religious Freedom issued in May
2024, it is reported that in 2023--
(1) the Government of Iran ``conducted individual and mass
arrests of Baha'is across Iran taking them to undisclosed
locations and imposing excessively long prison sentences'';
(2) ``security officials beat and brutalized Baha'is during
raids and searches of private homes'';
(3) ``security forces arrested scores of Baha'is in cities
including Hamadan, Mehrshahr, Yazd, Karaj, Alborz, and
Tehran'';
(4) the ``government has targeted Baha'i women in
particular'' and that ``[a]pproximately two-thirds of Iranian
Baha'i prisoners are women'';
(5) authorities ``targeted Baha'i cemeteries in Arak,
Alborz, and Golestan''; and
(6) local ``municipalities seized and confiscated Baha'i
land, restricted Baha'i access to burial grounds, and
declared intentions to sell Baha'i-owned property exclusively
to Muslims.'';
Whereas the Iran section of the Department of State's 2022
Report on International Religious Freedom issued in May 2023
provides, in part--
(1) ``[I]n July and August, security forces in cities
across the country conducted multiple raids of Baha'i homes,
confiscated property deemed `illegitimate wealth', and
arrested Baha'is in their homes or workplaces on
unsubstantiated charges including `causing intellectual and
ideological insecurity in Muslim society.' '';
(2) ``Authorities reportedly continued to deny members of
unrecognized religious minority groups access to education
and government employment unless they declared themselves as
belonging to one of the country's recognized religions on
their application forms. UN experts reported universities
rejected more than 90 Baha'i students between January and
August.''; and
(3) ``Government officials and government-affiliated
organizations 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 January 12, 2024, the Baha'i International
Community organization reported increasing incidents of
persecution accompanied by intensified violence perpetrated
against the Baha'i community by the Government of Iran, for
example--
(1) ``since the beginning of October [2023] more than 200
incidents of persecution, including over 50 arrests and
imprisonments, have occurred in various cities such as
Shiraz, Yazd, Isfahan, Hamadan, and Karaj'';
(2) government agents have perpetrated ``increasingly
violent home raids, disproportionately affecting women and
the elderly, and have even resulted in hospitalizations and
traumatic separations of mothers from their children.
Notably, over two-thirds of those arrested and detained have
been women, predominantly in their twenties and thirties,
highlighting the escalation of attacks against women in
recent months.''; and
(3) government agents have instigated a ``conspicuous rise
in hate speech, where Baha'is have been accused of being
behind the September 2022 protests, promoting permissiveness,
being against Islam and Shiism, being spies for Israel and
the West, and being part of a political movement that seeks
to undermine the state'';
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.
____________________