(This measure has not been amended since it was introduced. The summary of that version is repeated here.)
Calls on the government of Iran to abide by its international and domestic obligations regarding human rights and civil liberties, including freedoms of assembly, speech, and press.
Deplores: (1) the dramatic rise in executions of Iranian citizens by authorities since the election of President Hassan Rouhani in June 2013, and (2) Iran's mistreatment of its religious minorities.
Condemns: (1) the recent execution of Reyhaneh Jabbari, a woman convicted of killing a man she said she stabbed in self-defense during a sexual assault; (2) the relentless persecution of the Baha'i minority; and (3) the undemocratic elections process that denies Iranians the ability to freely choose their own government.
Calls on Iran to release all political prisoners and prisoners of conscience.
Notes that the Administration has designated only one Iranian person for the commission of serious human rights abuses under the Comprehensive Iran Sanctions, Accountability, and Divestment Act since May 30, 2013.
Urges the President to increase the utilization of all available authorities, including the Comprehensive Iran Sanctions, Accountability, and Divestment Act of 2010, to impose sanctions on Iranian officials and others responsible for serious human rights abuses, including by freezing assets and barring U.S. entry.
Urges the U.S. government to adopt and implement the following recommendations of the U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom regarding Iran:
Stands with the people of Iran who seek the opportunity to freely elect a government of their choosing.
[Congressional Bills 113th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H. Res. 754 Introduced in House (IH)]
113th CONGRESS
2d Session
H. RES. 754
Condemning the Government of Iran for its gross human rights
violations.
_______________________________________________________________________
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
November 14, 2014
Mr. Royce (for himself and Mr. Engel) submitted the following
resolution; which was referred to the Committee on Foreign Affairs
_______________________________________________________________________
RESOLUTION
Condemning the Government of Iran for its gross human rights
violations.
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 in violation of these and other international obligations, officials of
the Government of Iran continue to perpetrate gross violations of the
fundamental human rights of the Iranian people;
Whereas Iranian women are increasingly subject to heinous acid attacks, either
condoned by, or sponsored by, the Government of Iran, through the Basij
and other vigilante groups;
Whereas the Parliament of Iran recently enacted a law providing legal protection
to private citizens to enforce a strict Islamic dress code and other
behavior prescribed under Sharia law, emboldening the Basij and other
vigilante groups;
Whereas the Government of Iran ``manipulates the electoral process'', according
to the United States Department of State's Country Reports on Human
Rights Practices for 2013, ``severely limit[ing] citizens' right to
change their government peacefully through free and fair elections'';
Whereas following voting irregularities that resulted in the election of
President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, the Government of Iran brutally
suppressed peaceful political dissent from wide segments of civil
society during the Green Revolution in 2009 in a cynical attempt to
retain its undemocratic grip on power;
Whereas the Government of Iran has kept the principal leaders of the Green
Revolution, Mir Hussein Moussavi and Mehdi Karroubi, under house arrest
since February 2011;
Whereas the United States Department of State consistently finds that Iranian
authorities have ``limited freedom of association through threats,
intimidation, the imposition of arbitrary requirements on organizations,
and the arrests of group leaders and members'';
Whereas the United States Department of State's Virtual Embassy Tehran website
highlights human rights violations and abuses in Iran on a weekly basis;
Whereas the Government of Iran continues to restrict freedom of speech and
peaceful assembly, particularly for journalists and human rights
activists;
Whereas the United Nations Special Rapporteur on the Situation of Human Rights
in the Islamic Republic of Iran found in its August 2014 report that the
laws and policies of the Government of Iran ``continue to place overly
broad restrictions on the rights to freedom of expression and access to
information'', including ``severe content restrictions, intimidation and
prosecution of Internet users and limitations on Internet access through
throttling and filtering'';
Whereas the ability of religious freedom and human rights activists to freely
express themselves, and mobilize civil society, is actively thwarted by
the Government of Iran;
Whereas the Special Rapporteur found that the Government of Iran continues to
apply capital punishment to offenders convicted of crimes below the
international human rights law threshold of ``most serious crimes'';
political prisoners; and juvenile offenders, including 8 individuals in
2014 believed to be less than 18 years of age at the time of their
alleged crimes;
Whereas Iranian women continue to face legal and societal discrimination, as
well as rampant domestic violence, which is not specifically prohibited
under domestic law;
Whereas, on October 25, 2014, Iranian authorities executed Reyhaneh Jabbari, an
Iranian woman convicted of killing a man she said she stabbed in self-
defense during a sexual assault, an execution preceded by the lack of
due process, including a reported forced confession;
Whereas the United States Department of State issued a statement condemning
Jabbari's execution and calling on Iran to ``respect the fair trial
guarantees afforded to its people under Iran's own laws and its
international obligations'';
Whereas the United States Commission on International Religious Freedom found in
its 2014 Annual Report that the Government of Iran ``continues to engage
in systematic, ongoing, and egregious violations of religious freedom,
including prolonged detention, torture, and executions based primarily
or entirely upon the religion of the accused'';
Whereas the Government of Iran persecutes such religious minority groups as the
Baha'is, Christians, Sufi, Sunni, and dissenting Shi'a Muslims (such as
imprisoned Ayatollah Hossein Kazemeyni Boroujerdi) through harassment,
arrests, and imprisonment, during which detainees have routinely been
beaten, tortured, and killed;
Whereas since 1999, the United States Department of State has repeatedly
designated Iran as a ``country of particular concern'' for severe
violations of religious freedom pursuant to the International Religious
Freedom Act of 1998 (Public Law 105-292), most recently on July 28,
2014;
Whereas the Government of Iran has long persecuted with particular intensity the
Baha'i community, the largest non-Muslim religious minority in Iran, who
number at least 300,000, and are viewed as ``heretics'', and therefore
are subjected to repression on the grounds of apostasy;
Whereas according to the United States Commission on International Religious
Freedom, since 1979, Iranian authorities have killed or executed more
than 200 Baha'i leaders;
Whereas ordinary Iranian citizens who belong to the Baha'i faith are
disproportionately targeted, interrogated, and detained under the
pretext of national security;
Whereas senior governmental, military, and public security officials in Iran are
responsible for ordering, controlling, and committing gross human rights
violations that, in many cases, represent national policies of the
Iranian regime;
Whereas the United States Department of the Treasury, pursuant to section 413 of
the Iran Threat Reduction and Syria Human Rights Act of 2012 (22 U.S.C.
8753), issued a General License in September 2013 to permit the
exportation of services and the transfer of funds for activities related
to human rights and democracy building projects in Iran, which
facilitate United States nongovernmental organizations' activities that
increase Iranian access to information and freedom of expression;
Whereas since 2010, the United States Department of the Treasury, in
consultation with the United States Department of State, has sanctioned
19 Iranian officials and 18 Iranian entities for their involvement or
complicity in serious human rights abuses or in restricting the freedom
of expression or assembly of the Iranian people;
Whereas the most recent designation was for Morteza Tamaddom, former Governor-
General of Tehran Province, designated May 23, 2014, under Executive
Order 13628 for his involvement in censorship and other activities that
limit the freedom of expression and freedom of assembly of Iran's
citizens;
Whereas the United States led the effort in the United Nations Human Rights
Council to renew the mandate of the Special Rapporteur on Iran in order
to further expose Iranian human rights abuses; and
Whereas it is important that the President of the United States consistently and
rigorously exercise the statutory authorities granted by the
Comprehensive Iran Sanctions, Accountability, and Divestment Act of 2010
and the Iran Threat Reduction and Syria Human Rights Act of 2012 to
impose sanctions on officials of the Government of Iran and other
individuals directly responsible for human rights abuses, engaging in
censorship, or engaging in the diversion of goods intended for the
people of Iran: Now, therefore, be it
Resolved, That the House of Representatives--
(1) calls on the Government of Iran to abide by all of its
international and domestic obligations with respect to human
rights and civil liberties, including freedoms of assembly,
speech, and press;
(2) deplores the dramatic rise in executions of Iranian
citizens by authorities since the election of President Hassan
Rouhani in June 2013;
(3) condemns, in particular, the recent cruel execution of
Reyhaneh Jabbari, an Iranian woman convicted of killing a man
she said she stabbed in self-defense during a sexual assault;
(4) deplores the Government of Iran's mistreatment of its
religious minorities, including through the deprivation of
life, liberty, and property;
(5) condemns, in particular, the Government of Iran for its
relentless persecution of its Baha'i minority;
(6) calls on the Government of Iran to release all
political prisoners and prisoners of conscience;
(7) notes that the Administration has designated only one
Iranian person for the commission of serious human rights
abuses under the Comprehensive Iran Sanctions, Accountability,
and Divestment Act, as amended, since May 30, 2013;
(8) urges the President to increase the utilization of all
available authorities, including the Comprehensive Iran
Sanctions, Accountability, and Divestment Act of 2010, to
impose sanctions on officials of the Government of Iran and
other individuals directly responsible for serious human rights
abuses, including by freezing those individuals' assets and
barring their entry into the United States;
(9) urges the United States Government to adopt and
implement the following recommendations of the United States
Commission on International Religious Freedom with respect to
Iran--
(A) continue to seek that violations of freedom of
religion or belief and related human rights are part of
multilateral or bilateral discussions with the
Government or Iran whenever possible, and continue to
work closely with European and other allies to apply
pressure through a combination of advocacy, diplomacy,
and targeted sanctions;
(B) continue to speak out publicly and frequently
at the highest levels about the severe religious
freedom abuses in Iran, press for and work to secure
the release of all prisoners of conscience, and
highlight the need for the international community to
hold authorities accountable in specific cases; and
(C) continue to call on Iran to cooperate fully
with the United Nations Special Rapporteur on the Human
Rights Situation in Iran, including allowing the
Special Rapporteur, as well as the United Nations
Special Rapporteur on Freedom of Religion or Belief, to
visit and continue to support an annual United Nations
General Assembly resolution condemning severe
violations of human rights, including freedom of
religion or belief in Iran and calling for officials
responsible for such violations to be held accountable;
(10) condemns the undemocratic elections process that
denies Iranians the ability to freely choose their own
government; and
(11) stands with the people of Iran who seek the
opportunity to freely elect a government of their choosing.
<all>
Introduced in House
Introduced in House
Referred to the House Committee on Foreign Affairs.
Mr. Royce moved to suspend the rules and agree to the resolution.
Considered under suspension of the rules. (consideration: CR H8106-8110)
DEBATE - The House proceeded with forty minutes of debate on H. Res. 754.
Passed/agreed to in House: On motion to suspend the rules and agree to the resolution Agreed to by voice vote.(text: CR H8106-8107)
On motion to suspend the rules and agree to the resolution Agreed to by voice vote. (text: CR H8106-8107)
Motion to reconsider laid on the table Agreed to without objection.
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