[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 152 (2006), Part 13]
[House]
[Pages 18515-18518]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




CONDEMNING HUMAN RIGHTS ABUSES BY THE GOVERNMENT OF IRAN AND EXPRESSING 
                   SOLIDARITY WITH THE IRANIAN PEOPLE

  Mr. McCAUL of Texas. Madam Speaker, I move to suspend the rules and 
agree to the resolution (H. Res. 976) condemning human rights abuses by 
the Government of the Islamic Republic of Iran and expressing 
solidarity with the Iranian people.
  The Clerk read as follows:

                              H. Res. 976

       Whereas the Government of the Islamic Republic of Iran was 
     elected through a controlled and fixed election process which 
     does not allow the Iranian people to freely elect their 
     leaders;
       Whereas the Government of Iran is unaccountable to the will 
     of the Iranian people;
       Whereas the Government of Iran is a party to the 
     International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, the 
     International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural 
     Rights and the International Convention on the Elimination of 
     All Forms of Racial Discrimination;
       Whereas the Government of Iran within both its legal 
     framework and everyday practice continues to violate the 
     civil and human rights of its citizens, in particular women, 
     religious and ethnic minorities, and vocal opponents of the 
     regime;
       Whereas the Government of Iran practices discrimination 
     against the aforementioned groups through denial of access to 
     education and employment, seizure of private property, 
     violent suppression of peaceful protest and freedom of 
     assembly, arbitrary arrest and detention, physical and mental 
     torture, cruel, inhuman, and degrading punishment, such as 
     public executions, hanging, and stoning, and extra judicial 
     killings of dissidents and ordinary citizens;
       Whereas the Constitution of Iran promotes religious 
     intolerance and prohibits religious freedom by endorsing one 
     religion to the exclusion of other religious beliefs;
       Whereas an unelected theocratic ruler and clerical elite 
     exert control over the executive, legislative, and judicial 
     branches of the Iranian Government;
       Whereas the Iranian judiciary is not independent and can be 
     subject to arbitrary dismissal by the clerics;
       Whereas on December 16, 2005, the United Nations General 
     Assembly passed a resolution discussing the human rights 
     violations by the Government of Iran and insisting that

[[Page 18516]]

     Iran eliminate in law and in practice discrimination toward 
     the aforementioned groups;
       Whereas international human rights organizations have 
     called for investigations into violent crackdowns of peaceful 
     protests and other human rights violations which the 
     Government of Iran has ignored;
       Whereas Iran sent to the June 2006 inaugural meetings of 
     the United Nations Human Rights Council Saeed Mortazavi, 
     Tehran's Prosecutor General responsible for jailing hundreds 
     of journalists and linked to the 2003 arrest, imprisonment, 
     and murder of an Iranian-Canadian photojournalist, showing a 
     blatant disregard for the issue of human rights reform; and
       Whereas the Department of State's Country Report on Human 
     Rights Practices and Report on International Religious 
     Freedom document the human rights abuses by the Government of 
     Iran and list Iran as a ``Country of Particular Concern'': 
     Now, therefore, be it
       Resolved,  That the House of Representatives--
       (1) condemns the human rights abuses perpetrated by the 
     Government of the Islamic Republic of Iran and strongly urges 
     the international community to bring pressure on Iran to halt 
     discrimination and violence toward its citizens, in 
     particular women, religious and ethnic minorities, and vocal 
     opponents of the regime;
       (2) urges the Government of the United States to continue 
     to pressure the Government of Iran into making measurable 
     improvements in the human rights situation for the Iranian 
     people; and
       (3) expresses its unity with all Iranian people and shares 
     their desire to see Iran become a free country with 
     transparent, democratic institutions and equal rights for 
     all.

  The SPEAKER pro tempore. Pursuant to the rule, the gentleman from 
Texas (Mr. McCaul) and the gentleman from California (Mr. Lantos) each 
will control 20 minutes.
  The Chair recognizes the gentleman from Texas.


                             General Leave

  Mr. McCAUL of Texas. Madam Speaker, I ask unanimous consent that all 
Members may have 5 legislative days to revise and extend their remarks 
and include extraneous material on the resolution under consideration.
  The SPEAKER pro tempore. Is there objection to the request of the 
gentleman from Texas?
  There was no objection.
  Mr. McCAUL of Texas. Madam Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may 
consume.
  Madam Speaker, I rise today in support of freedom for the Iranian 
people, and I want to thank Congressman Crowley and Congressman Lantos 
for their efforts in support of this resolution. I want to thank 
Chairwoman Ros-Lehtinen for her tireless efforts to see Iran become a 
free and democratic state.
  For nearly 30 years, Iranians have lived under the extremist policies 
of religious clerics. Their human rights violations against the Iranian 
people defy common belief. The Iranian people deserve, indeed desire, 
the opportunity to live in a free and democratic society.
  This is the dream of the vast majority of Iranians, and we should 
help them make this dream come true. It has been far too long since we 
have looked at the human rights record of one of the most evil regimes 
of the modern era. We know that Iran is the single largest state 
sponsor of terrorism in the world. And we know that their leaders wish 
to continue inflicting terrible pain and suffering on any group of 
people who do not share their extremist beliefs.
  However, we must also remember the pain and suffering of the Iranian 
people at the hands of their leaders. Congress, the President, and the 
international community must address the excessive human rights abuses 
by Iran's Government. Since the Khomeini revolution in 1979, Iran has 
been ruled by a string of tyrants who use religion and politics as an 
excuse to persecute their own people.
  Religious, ethnic, and gender discrimination are practiced every day 
by the Iranian judicial courts and the clerics who run them. People or 
groups critical to their government are given few rights under the law 
and no rights in practice.
  The Government of Iran practices discrimination against its own 
people by denial of access to education and employment, seizure of 
private property, violent suppression of peaceful protest and freedom 
of assembly, arbitrary arrest and detention, physical and mental 
torture, cruel, inhumane and degrading punishment such as public 
executions, hangings and stoning, and extra-judicial killings of 
dissidents and ordinary citizens.
  Iran's clerical regime has been a serial abuser of human rights since 
it violently took over the country in 1979. But it is clear that since 
President Ahmadinejad took power, the abuse of Iranian citizens has 
increased. Under his rule, Iranians are tortured for simply practicing 
a different religion, for speaking a different idea, and even for not 
supporting the extremist mullahs.
  The oppression of women under the Iranian regime is perhaps the most 
brutal and most offensive. Iranian women are not allowed to attend 
universities, to hold jobs, to drive a car. They are forced to cover 
their entire bodies in public. In many cases of rape, the accused man 
will not face any punishment, and the woman in question will be accused 
of fornication, will be imprisoned, and eventually put to death.
  One case involved a young woman who was deeply in love with her 
husband, and without evidence or reason, and against the pleas of her 
own husband, was found guilty of adultery. She was buried alive up to 
her chest in Tehran and then stoned to death.
  In other cases of abuse, people have been arrested, beaten, and even 
killed for eating during the month of Ramadan, or doing anything that 
the mullahs deemed inappropriate. According to Iranian law, the 
religious police can interrogate a suspect without a lawyer present, 
which allows them to beat prisoners until they confess, most often to a 
crime that they did not commit.

                              {time}  1700

  We must never forget these violations when we consider Iran's place 
in the international community. President Bush has attempted to engage 
the Iranian Government to end their illegal nuclear weapons program. 
This effort is crucial to keeping the world safe from a nuclear 
nightmare.
  However, the effort must not end there. The United States and its 
allies must continue to pressure Iran to end the severe human rights 
violations against the Iranian people.
  It is appropriate for us to raise this issue here today. This evening 
the President of Iran will address the world from the floor of the 
United Nations. His pleas and support of a nuclear Iran will fall on 
deaf ears. His continued defiance of U.N. Security Council resolutions 
must end, and the international community must begin the process of 
isolating the Iranian regime until true reform in that country begins.
  Human decency requires us to stand unanimously against Ahmadinejad's 
oppression of his own people. We must continue to pursue freedom for 
Iran through diplomacy, but we must also not shrink from our 
responsibility through the option of strength.
  We must also pursue the policy of internal resistance and change from 
within Iran. The policies and extremist views of Iran's religious 
mullahs are not representative of the entire nation of Iran. There are 
many Iranian people who desire to be free and are willing to fight for 
it. I have met with them, and we should do everything we can to forward 
their cause.
  Now is the time to save their countries, for them to save their own 
countries, for them to save their own societies and for them to save 
their own religion.
  I would like to leave with a few powerful stories of Iranian citizens 
who were persecuted and killed at the hands of their own government. 
The first involved an innocent Iranian girl. The religious police will 
not even respect the private boundaries of the home. A young girl in 
Tehran was arrested for swimming in her home pool in a bathing suit. 
She was found guilty of causing a ``state of arousal'' in a neighbor, 
from whose house she could be seen. She was sentenced to 60 lashes, but 
she died after the 30th lash.
  Another involved an Iranian photographer in 2003. A single mother, 
she had struggled to raise a child and to build a career in exile. Her 
son remembers her as a small but feisty and courageous woman who loved 
freedom. She

[[Page 18517]]

left her son for a business trip to Iran and Afghanistan. She was 
arrested while photographing a group of people inquiring about their 
detained loved ones. She was interrogated and beaten for refusing to 
confess to being a spy. She died in a military hospital in Tehran as a 
result of her torture.
  Another case involved a 52-year-old Iranian salesman, 1998. He 
believed in the Baha'i religion. In the eyes of the state, this made 
him the apostate, a member of the unprotected infidel community. He, 
too, was arrested and found guilty of converting a woman to his 
religion. He was eventually hanged in a public square on July 21, 1998.
  These are just but a few stories that highlight the need for this 
important resolution, and I strongly urge my colleagues to support this 
resolution.
  Madam Speaker, I reserve the balance of my time.
  Mr. LANTOS. Madam Speaker, I rise in strong support of this 
resolution.
  Madam Speaker, I yield myself such time as I might consume.
  I first would like to commend my good friend and distinguished 
colleague from Texas for introducing this important resolution and for 
his powerful and eloquent words.
  This body has regularly condemned Iran for its nuclear program, which 
is clearly designed to build weapons of mass destruction. We have 
condemned Iran for its support of terrorism and other aggressive 
policies. But for far too long we have not adequately called attention 
to the broad range of horrific human rights violations practiced by the 
Islamist Republic of Iran.
  In fact, Madam Speaker, Iran is among the world's leading human 
rights abusers. It is morally incumbent upon us to affirm our 
commitment to support the victims of Iranian repression and to express 
our sympathy for the long-denied democratic desires of the Iranian 
people. That is exactly what this resolution does.
  Madam Speaker, I believe we all are familiar with many aspects of 
Iranian repression. Iran today is an authoritarian, intolerant, 
theocratic state, and the Iranians are at the mercy of a cynical, self-
indulgent clerical elite, whose extremist views do not even reflect 
those of the majority of Iranian clergy.
  We all know how Iran treats religious minorities, most infamously the 
Baha'i, and we all know that Iran represses democratic dissent, cooks 
the elections to make sure that the winners are theocrats 
unrepresentative of the will of the Iranian people.
  But perhaps nothing more eloquently expresses Iran's cynicism about 
human rights than Iran's willingness to sign all manner of 
international agreements committing itself to adhere to international 
human rights standards while, in practice, scorning those very 
standards. Presumably the Iranian regime thinks it can fool us by 
signing documents.
  In that regard, Madam Speaker, Iran's attitude towards its human 
rights obligations and its nuclear obligations are two sides of the 
same coin. Tehran takes neither set of commitments seriously.
  By supporting this resolution, we will send a skyrocket message to 
the Iranian regime and to the Iranian people that we see through the 
regime's veil of cynicism, that we will keep the pressure on the 
Iranian regime to cease its repression, and that we look forward to the 
day when Iran will join the ranks of democratic, human-rights-
respecting, law-abiding countries. We will not cease to believe in the 
goodwill and democratic inclinations of the vast majority of the 
Iranian people.
  Madam Speaker, I urge all of my colleagues to support this 
resolution.
  Madam Speaker, I am pleased to yield to my friend from Ohio as much 
time as he might consume.
  Mr. KUCINICH. Once again, I am grateful to the gentleman from 
California for the opportunity to offer a slightly different 
perspective. While I continue to associate myself with my good friend 
Mr. Lantos in the celebration of the imperative of human rights 
globally, I have specific concerns about the tenor of this resolution 
and its relationship to the administration's policy of ramping up for a 
war against Iran.
  Again, I want to state that this is the third resolution that has 
been brought before this House this evening. You have to read it in the 
context of administration actions, which have been documented in 
published reports, that relate to an attempt to interfere in the 
internal affairs of Iran by sending elements of the Department of 
Defense inside of Iranian territory; number two, by planning a bombing, 
targets inside Iran; number three, by planning a naval blockade in the 
Strait of Hormuz where 40 percent of the world's oil flows through.
  We have to look at this in a broader context of an administrative 
foreign policy, which is really aimed at creating not stability, but 
instability in the region. You can look at the July 2006 Vanity Fair 
article, which goes into detail about the unfortunate administration 
escapade of tricking up a case for uranium from Niger with respect to 
Iraq. One of the administration's key advisers in that article 
basically made the case for chaos, which is an administration, I 
believe, policy. Now we are looking at Iran.
  Now, this resolution, 976, in the third article, expresses its unity 
with all the Iranian people, shares their desire to see Iran become a 
free country with transparent democratic institutions and equal rights 
for all.
  I pointed out earlier in debates that Iran had a democratic 
government under Mossadegh; that in October of 1951, under Mossadegh, 
Iran sought to nationalize its oil industry. That then resulted in a 
draft resolution submitted to the United Nations by the United Kingdom, 
and supported by the United States and France, as depicting Iran then 
as a threat to international peace and security.
  Then we saw a coup d'etat that was organized by the U.S. and the U.K. 
Yes, we ought to stand for democracy. We ought to also stand for truth 
with respect to the historical unfolding of what we say we stand for.
  Where does this resolution lead? Does it lead to a continued 
insistence that the Government of Iran restore human rights to everyone 
in Iran? If it does, wonderful. We all ought to go along with that. But 
if his resolution is just another brick on a path towards war, look 
out. This looks like Iraq all over again, and that is what my concern 
is.
  If this resolution sets us on a path to war, how many of us in the 
Congress are prepared to see this administration borrow money from 
China and Japan to go to war against Iran, as they have borrowed money 
from China and Japan to go to war against Iraq? We have to look at what 
we are doing here.
  While this resolution, I am sure, will pass overwhelmingly, we have 
to see that circumstances are being set in order which could lead us 
towards a path of war against Iran. We have to ask ourselves, is that 
what we really want?
  I can stand here with my colleagues and say, absolutely, I support 
the religious freedom of the Baha'i. I do. Absolutely. I support human 
rights for all people in Iran, and I do. Absolutely. I support 
democratic principles in Iran and every other country in the world, and 
I do.
  But I am not for war against Iran. I don't believe the American 
people want war against Iran. I don't think they wanted war against 
Iraq, but they were dragged into it.
  I am just offering these remarks as a cautionary note to make sure 
that we have our eyes open as we walk in the days ahead with respect to 
policy and Iran. Yes, we need to make sure that Iran has peaceful uses 
of its atomic energy. We have an obligation to do that.
  But, in conclusion, Mr. Speaker, I maintain that we should begin 
first with direct negotiations with Iran. Second, we should assure Iran 
that we are not going to attack it. Third, we should demand that Iran 
open itself up to inspections once again by the IAEA. Fourth, we need 
assurances, and they are fair, that Iran is not going to be developing 
nuclear weapons.
  There is a way out of this, and I am hopeful that in our stand for 
human rights, we are not paradoxically beginning a process that would 
deprive millions of Iranians of their human right to life.

[[Page 18518]]

  I thank the gentleman from California for his friendship and also for 
his willingness to see debate in this House of the people. You have 
always done that, Mr. Lantos. Whether we have agreed or not, you have 
always been willing to see the debate continue.
  Mr. LANTOS. I thank my friend for his generous words.
  Ms. JACKSON-LEE of Texas. Mr. Speaker, I rise today to support H. 
Res. 976, condemning human rights abuses by the Government of the 
Islamic Republic of Iran and expressing solidarity with the Iranian 
people.
  It is astonishing that the Iranian government denies that there is a 
human rights issue in the country. The Iranian government suppresses 
expression and opinion, and persecutes individual for peaceful 
expression of their political views. Iran is constantly cited and 
criticized by our Department of State, Amnesty International, and many 
other human rights watch groups for its human rights record.
  I have long been an advocate of a free, independent, and democratic 
Iran; an Iran that is non-threatening to its neighbors and that honors 
its commitments in the world community. There is no dissent in the 
world community about the inherent dangers of nuclear proliferation in 
the region.
  For years, I have been a supporter of the democratic movement in 
Iran, and today more than ever, the people of Iran need to be 
supported, empowered, and given the confidence to create for themselves 
a new nation. Wars and appeasements are temporary actions, and not even 
close to a solution.
  The only effective way to achieve a lasting peace and prosperity in 
the region is to support the Iranian people, men, women and children, 
in their endeavors to make Iran a democratic state.
  Democracy is a struggle, but democracy is just. No one should 
experience the terror of a government that would torture or kill its 
own. We cannot ignore a country that gleefully thwarts international 
peace treaties and human rights conventions.
  This bipartisan bill sends a very clear message that any government 
that oppresses its people will not be tolerated, and a smug tyranny is 
not acceptable. I urge my colleagues to support this measure.
  May we all soon see peace and stability return to all of the Middle 
East.
  Ms. ROS-LEHTINEN. Mr. Speaker, I rise in strong support of H. Res. 
976, introduced by my colleague, Mr. McCaul from Texas.
  H. Res. 976, Condemns human rights abuses by the Government of the 
Islamic Republic of Iran and expresses solidarity with the Iranian 
people.
  The resolution notes the injustices inflicted upon the people of Iran 
by an unaccountable government against their will.
  It urges the President and the international community to increase 
pressure on the Iranian government to improve its human rights 
situation and expresses unity with the Iranian people.
  The recent untimely deaths of two political prisoners, reinforces the 
urgency that Iran free all prisoners of conscience.
  The incarceration of student and political opposition activists is a 
form of intellectual terrorism that seriously undermines indigenous 
democratic reform.
  In addition, the recent decision by the Iranian government to outlaw 
the Center for Defense of Human Rights, which was established by the 
first Muslim Woman Nobel Laureate, Shirin Ebadi, is a violation of 
Iran's post revolutionary constitution.
  Mr. Speaker, this resolution is an opportunity for the American 
people to convey to the Iranian people that we support their efforts to 
bring freedom to their nation.
  As a co-sponsor of this measure and strong advocate for the right of 
every human being--every Iranian--to live free from intimidation and be 
able to exercise their fundamental rights, I ask that we render our 
strong support for this resolution.
  Mr. LANTOS. Mr. Speaker, I yield back the balance of my time.
  Mr. McCAUL of Texas. Mr. Speaker, I yield back the balance of my 
time.
  The SPEAKER pro tempore (Mr. Gohmert). The question is on the motion 
offered by the gentleman from Texas (Mr. McCaul) that the House suspend 
the rules and agree to the resolution, H. Res. 976.
  The question was taken.
  The SPEAKER pro tempore. In the opinion of the Chair, two-thirds of 
those present have voted in the affirmative.
  Mr. LANTOS. Mr. Speaker, on that I demand the yeas and nays.
  The yeas and nays were ordered.
  The SPEAKER pro tempore. Pursuant to clause 8 of rule XX and the 
Chair's prior announcement, further proceedings on this question will 
be postponed.

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