IV

106TH CONGRESS

2D SESSION H. RES. 614

Condemning the Government of Iran for the continued imprisonment of 10

Jews and 2 Muslims on false charges of espionage and urging the

President to sustain United States sanctions against Iran, including

opposition to assistance provided by international institutions, and for

other purposes.

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

OCTOBER 6, 2000

Mr. ACKERMAN (for himself and Mr. GEJDENSON) submitted the following

resolution; which was referred to the Committee on International Relations

RESOLUTION

Condemning the Government of Iran for the continued imprisonment of 10 Jews and 2 Muslims on false charges

of espionage and urging the President to sustain United

States sanctions against Iran, including opposition to

assistance provided by international institutions, and for

other purposes.

Whereas on July 1, 2000, the Government of Iran convicted

10 Jewish and 2 Muslim Iranian citizens on unproven

charges through a judicial process utterly at odds with

international standards of human rights and due process;

Whereas the Government of Iran, prior to trial, incarcerated

these individuals incommunicado for more than a year

without presentation of charges, denied the accused the
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right to choose their own counsel, compelled and coerced

fabricated confessions, and conducted the trials in secret,

without a jury and with the prosecutor also acting as the

judge in the case;

Whereas the Government of Iran has never produced any evidence whatsoever to substantiate the indictments or the

subsequent convictions;

Whereas the Iranian Revolutionary Court, having heard the

appeal of the 10 wrongly convicted Jews, decided to affirm the bulk of their sentences while largely voiding the

grounds on which they were convicted;

Whereas the Government of Iran actively opposes the United

States-sponsored Middle East peace process and, as the

foremost state sponsor of international terrorism, continues to provide arms, financial aid, and diplomatic support to criminal organizations hostile to the United

States, United States allies, and United States interests;

Whereas the Government of Iran is pursuing the acquisition

of weapons of mass destruction in contravention to its

own freely chosen and fundamental obligations as a signatory to international treaties and agreements, including

the nuclear Non-Proliferation of Treaty, the Chemical

Weapons Convention, and the Biological Weapons Convention;

Whereas in 1982, 1984, 1988, 1990, 1992, 1994, and 1996,

Congress, by concurrent resolution, declared that it holds

the Government of Iran responsible for upholding the

rights of all its nationals;

Whereas on September 19, 2000, the House of Representatives agreed to House Concurrent Resolution 257, con-
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cerning the emancipation of the Iranian Baha’i community, and transmitted it to the Senate; and

Whereas on June 29, 2000, the House of Representatives reduced funding for the Animal and Plant Health Inspection Health Service by $15,510 (the amount used for the

inspection of imported Iranian food products) and on

July 20, 2000, prevented the lifting of the embargo on

Iranian goods: Now, therefore, be it

1 Resolved, That the House of Representatives—

2 (1) condemns the decision by the Iranian Revo3 lutionary Court to sustain the unjust imprisonment

4 of the 10 Jews improperly convicted on July 1,

5 2000, and urges their immediate release;

6 (2) reiterates its call to the Government of Iran

7 to fulfill its obligation to respect fundamental human

8 rights including, inter alia, the rights of free exercise

9 of all religious faiths and entitlement to due process

10 of law;

11 (3) calls for the cessation of unilateral gestures

12 of good faith on the part of the United States absent

13 significant and recognizable reciprocal actions by the

14 Government of Iran, particularly steps relating to—

15 (A) ceasing its active opposition to the

16 Middle East peace process;

17 (B) ending its support for international

18 terrorism;
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1 (C) stopping its illegal and destabilizing

2 weapons of mass destruction acquisition efforts;

3 and

4 (D) acknowledging and protecting the fun5 damental human rights of the Iranian people;

6 (4) commends the President, the Secretary of

7 State, the United States Permanent Representative

8 to the United Nations, and the Secretary General of

9 the United Nations for their diligence and urges

10 them to continue their efforts to sustain inter11 national pressure on the Government of Iran to re12 lease these 12 men; and

13 (5) calls on the President—

14 (A) to consider the fate of the 10 Jews and

15 2 Muslims imprisoned as a benchmark against

16 which the intentions and good faith of the Gov17 ernment of Iran should be measured and urges

18 the Secretary to direct all United States diplo19 matic personnel to promote international efforts

20 to free the 12 falsely imprisoned Iranians; and

21 (B) to sustain, and consider strengthening,

22 existing United States sanctions against Iran,

23 including United States opposition to assistance

24 to Iran provided by international institutions.

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