Condemning 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.

[Congressional Bills 119th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H. Res. 925 Introduced in House (IH)]

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119th CONGRESS
  1st Session
H. RES. 925

Condemning 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.


_______________________________________________________________________


                    IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

                            December 3, 2025

 Ms. Schakowsky (for herself, Mr. McCaul, Mr. Auchincloss, Mr. Beyer, 
 Mr. Bilirakis, Mr. Cleaver, Mr. Doggett, Mr. Gottheimer, Ms. Norton, 
   Mr. Krishnamoorthi, Mr. Lawler, Mr. McCormick, Mr. McGovern, Mr. 
 Obernolte, Mr. Schneider, Mr. Sherman, Ms. Stevens, Mr. Subramanyam, 
  Mr. Van Drew, Mr. Vargas, Mr. Vasquez, and Mr. Yakym) submitted the 
 following resolution; which was referred to the Committee on Foreign 
                                Affairs

_______________________________________________________________________

                               RESOLUTION


 
Condemning 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.

Whereas, in 1982, 1984, 1988, 1990, 1992, 1993, 1994, 1996, 2000, 2004, 2006, 
        2008, 2009, 2012, 2013, 2015, 2016, 2017, 2018, 2020, 2021, 2022, and 
        2024, 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, 2025, marks the 42d anniversary of the execution of 10 Baha'i 
        women by the Iranian Government, each witnessing the hanging of those 
        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, 2024, the United Nations General Assembly adopted a 
        resolution (A/RES/79/183) criticizing Iran for human rights abuses and 
        calling on Iran to carry out wide-ranging reforms, including ending--

    (1) ``in law and in practice, all forms of discrimination on the basis 
of thought, conscience, religion or belief, including restrictions 
contained in article 499 bis and article 500 bis of the Islamic Penal 
Code'';

    (2) ``escalated discrimination and violence, as well as economic 
restrictions, such as the closure, destruction or confiscation of 
businesses, land and properties, the cancellation of licenses and the 
denial of employment in certain public and private sectors, including 
government or military positions and elected office, the denial of and 
restrictions on access to education, including for members of the Baha'i 
and other religious minorities, and other human rights violations against 
persons belonging to recognized and unrecognized religious minorities'';

    (3) ``ongoing severe limitations and increasing restrictions on the 
right to freedom of thought, conscience, religion or belief restrictions on 
the establishment of places of worship, [and] undue restrictions on burials 
carried out in accordance with religious tenets''; and

    (4) ``attacks against places of worship and burial and other human 
rights violations, including but not limited to 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 . . . in 
particular, Baha'is'';

Whereas, in the 2024 Annual Report of the United States Commission on 
        International Religious Freedom issued in May 2024, it is reported 
        that--

    (1) ``The government has targeted Baha'i women in particular, including 
10 arrested in Isfahan in October. Approximately two-thirds of Iranian 
Baha'i prisoners are women, including Mahvash Sabet and Fariba Kamalabadi, 
members of Iran's former Baha'i leadership (Yaran-e-Iran). Both are serving 
a decade in prison after having previously served an identical sentence in 
the early 2010s''; and

    (2) ``Authorities also targeted Baha'i cemeteries in Arak, Alborz, and 
Golestan. 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, in response to a surge in persecution of Baha'i women by the Iranian 
        Government between 2022 and 2024, on July 31, 2024, 18 United Nations 
        Special Rapporteurs and United Nations Working Group experts released a 
        joint letter of allegations concerning the increase ``in the systematic 
        targeting of Baha'i women, including through arrests, summoning for 
        interrogation, enforced disappearance, raids on their homes and 
        confiscation of their personal belongings'' and reported that--

    (1) ``Since early March 2024 alone, 72 of 93 Baha'is summoned to court 
or prison, more than three-quarters, have been women''; and

    (2) Baha'i women ``face intersectional persecution: as women and as 
members of the Baha'i religious minority. The escalation comes as Baha'i 
women continue to be confronted with ongoing incidents of persecution faced 
by all Baha'is, including denial of higher education and economic and 
cultural restrictions, which spans their entire lives, impacting them 
intellectually, socially and economically as they are banned from 
university and public employment only for their faith'';

Whereas the Iran section of the Department of State's Report on International 
        Religious Freedom issued in May 2023 provides, in part--

    (1) that the ``Human Rights Activists News Agency (HRANA) said the 
majority of human rights violations against religious minorities involved 
Baha'is (85 percent)'';

    (2) that ``The NGO Human Rights Without Frontiers (HRWF) reported more 
than 1,000 Baha'is were either imprisoned, in custody, under arrest, or 
waiting for a hearing or to be summoned by a court''; and

    (3) that ``A Ministry of Science, Research, and Technology order 
requires universities to exclude Baha'is from access to higher education, 
or to expel them if their religious affiliation becomes known'';

Whereas, on April 1, 2024, Human Rights Watch issued a report titled, ``The Boot 
        on My Neck: Iranian Authorities' Crime of Persecution Against Baha'is in 
        Iran'', which detailed--

    (1) that ``for the past four decades, the authorities' serial 
violations of Baha'is' rights have continued, directed by the state's most 
senior officials and the Islamic Republic's ideology, which holds extreme 
animus against adherents of the Baha'i faith. While the intensity of 
violations against Baha'is has varied over time, the authorities' 
persecution of people who are members of this faith community has remained 
constant, impacting virtually every aspect of Baha'is' private and public 
lives'';

    (2) that ``the Islamic Republic's repression of Baha'is, particularly 
after 1979, is enshrined in Iranian law and is official government 
policy''; and

    (3) that ``Human Rights Watch believes that the cumulative impact of 
authorities' decades-long systematic repression is an intentional and 
severe deprivation of Baha'is' fundamental rights and amounts to the crime 
against humanity of persecution'';

Whereas, on July 17, 2024, Mr. Javaid Rehman, the Special Rapporteur on 
        situation of human rights in the Islamic Republic of Iran issued a 
        special report titled, ``Atrocity Crimes and grave violations of human 
        rights committed by the Islamic Republic of Iran (1981-1982 and 1988)'', 
        which concluded, ``Having considered the various submissions and the 
        available documentation and having examined the treatment meted out to 
        the Baha'i community in the early years of the Revolution, the Special 
        Rapporteur reports that Iranian authorities--with destructive, arguably 
        genocidal intent--engaged in killing or colluded in the killings of 
        members of the Baha'i community; Baha'is were physically and mentally 
        tortured simply because of their faith and members of the community 
        suffered from `serious bodily or mental harm'. They also faced 
        confiscation of their properties, expulsion from employment and denial 
        of education rights'';
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 House of Representatives--
            (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 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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