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ONE YEAR UNDER ROUHANI: IRAN’S ABYSMAL

HUMAN RIGHTS RECORD

JOINT HEARING

BEFORE THE

SUBCOMMITTEE ON 

THE MIDDLE EAST AND NORTH AFRICA

AND THE

SUBCOMMITTEE ON AFRICA, GLOBAL HEALTH, 

GLOBAL HUMAN RIGHTS, AND 

INTERNATIONAL ORGANIZATIONS

OF THE

COMMITTEE ON FOREIGN AFFAIRS 

HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

ONE HUNDRED THIRTEENTH CONGRESS

SECOND SESSION

JUNE 19, 2014

Serial No. 113–202

Printed for the use of the Committee on Foreign Affairs

(

Available via the World Wide Web: http://www.foreignaffairs.house.gov/ or

http://www.gpo.gov/fdsys/

(II)

COMMITTEE ON FOREIGN AFFAIRS 

EDWARD R. ROYCE, California, Chairman 

CHRISTOPHER H. SMITH, New Jersey 

ILEANA ROS-LEHTINEN, Florida 

DANA ROHRABACHER, California 

STEVE CHABOT, Ohio 

JOE WILSON, South Carolina 

MICHAEL T. MCCAUL, Texas 

TED POE, Texas 

MATT SALMON, Arizona 

TOM MARINO, Pennsylvania 

JEFF DUNCAN, South Carolina 

ADAM KINZINGER, Illinois 

MO BROOKS, Alabama 

TOM COTTON, Arkansas 

PAUL COOK, California 

GEORGE HOLDING, North Carolina 

RANDY K. WEBER SR., Texas 

SCOTT PERRY, Pennsylvania 

STEVE STOCKMAN, Texas 

RON DESANTIS, Florida 

DOUG COLLINS, Georgia 

MARK MEADOWS, North Carolina 

TED S. YOHO, Florida 

SEAN DUFFY, Wisconsin 

ELIOT L. ENGEL, New York 

ENI F.H. FALEOMAVAEGA, American 

Samoa 

BRAD SHERMAN, California 

GREGORY W. MEEKS, New York 

ALBIO SIRES, New Jersey 

GERALD E. CONNOLLY, Virginia 

THEODORE E. DEUTCH, Florida 

BRIAN HIGGINS, New York 

KAREN BASS, California 

WILLIAM KEATING, Massachusetts 

DAVID CICILLINE, Rhode Island 

ALAN GRAYSON, Florida 

JUAN VARGAS, California 

BRADLEY S. SCHNEIDER, Illinois 

JOSEPH P. KENNEDY III, Massachusetts 

AMI BERA, California 

ALAN S. LOWENTHAL, California 

GRACE MENG, New York 

LOIS FRANKEL, Florida 

TULSI GABBARD, Hawaii 

JOAQUIN CASTRO, Texas

AMY PORTER, Chief of Staff THOMAS SHEEHY, Staff Director

JASON STEINBAUM, Democratic Staff Director 

(III)

SUBCOMMITTEE ON THE MIDDLE EAST AND NORTH AFRICA

ILEANA ROS-LEHTINEN, Florida, Chairman 

STEVE CHABOT, Ohio 

JOE WILSON, South Carolina 

ADAM KINZINGER, Illinois 

TOM COTTON, Arkansas 

RANDY K. WEBER SR., Texas 

RON DESANTIS, Florida 

DOUG COLLINS, Georgia 

MARK MEADOWS, North Carolina 

TED S. YOHO, Florida 

SEAN DUFFY, Wisconsin 

THEODORE E. DEUTCH, Florida 

GERALD E. CONNOLLY, Virginia 

BRIAN HIGGINS, New York 

DAVID CICILLINE, Rhode Island 

ALAN GRAYSON, Florida 

JUAN VARGAS, California 

BRADLEY S. SCHNEIDER, Illinois 

JOSEPH P. KENNEDY III, Massachusetts 

GRACE MENG, New York 

LOIS FRANKEL, Florida

SUBCOMMITTEE ON AFRICA, GLOBAL HEALTH, GLOBAL HUMAN RIGHTS, AND

INTERNATIONAL ORGANIZATIONS

CHRISTOPHER H. SMITH, New Jersey, Chairman 

TOM MARINO, Pennsylvania 

RANDY K. WEBER SR., Texas 

STEVE STOCKMAN, Texas 

MARK MEADOWS, North Carolina 

KAREN BASS, California 

DAVID CICILLINE, Rhode Island 

AMI BERA, California 

(V)

C O N T E N T S 

Page

WITNESSES 

Robert P. George, Ph.D., chairman, U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom ...................................................................................................... 9

Ms. Cler Baheri, member of the Baha’i community ............................................. 44

Mr. Hossein Alizadeh, regional program coordinator for the Middle East 

and North Africa, International Gay & Lesbian Human Rights Commission 51

Mr. Amir Hossein Etemadi, former Iranian political prisoner ............................ 59

LETTERS, STATEMENTS, ETC., SUBMITTED FOR THE HEARING 

Robert P. George, Ph.D.: Prepared statement ....................................................... 12

Ms. Cler Baheri: Prepared statement .................................................................... 47

Mr. Hossein Alizadeh: Prepared statement ........................................................... 53

Mr. Amir Hossein Etemadi: Prepared statement ................................................. 61

APPENDIX 

Hearing notice .......................................................................................................... 82

Hearing minutes ...................................................................................................... 83

The Honorable Christopher H. Smith, a Representative in Congress from 

the State of New Jersey, and chairman, Subcommittee on Africa, Global 

Health, Global Human Rights, and International Organizations: Prepared 

statement .............................................................................................................. 84

The Honorable Gerald E. Connolly, a Representative in Congress from the 

Commonwealth of Virginia: Prepared statement .............................................. 87

(1)

ONE YEAR UNDER ROUHANI: IRAN’S 

ABYSMAL HUMAN RIGHTS RECORD 

THURSDAY, JUNE 19, 2014

HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES,

SUBCOMMITTEE ON THE MIDDLE EAST AND NORTH AFRICA AND

SUBCOMMITTEE ON AFRICA, GLOBAL HEALTH,

COMMITTEE ON FOREIGN AFFAIRS,

Washington, DC. 

The committees met, pursuant to notice, at 10 o’clock a.m., in 

room 2172 Rayburn House Office Building, Hon. Ileana RosLehtinen (chairman of the subcommittee) presiding. 

Ms. ROS-LEHTINEN. The joint subcommittee will come to order. 

After recognizing myself, Chairman Smith, Ranking Member 

Deutch, and Ranking Member Bass, for 5 minutes each for our 

opening statements, I will then recognize other members seeking 

recognition for 1 minute. We will then hear from our witnesses, 

and, without objection, the witnesses’ prepared statements will be 

made a part of the record. 

We thank you all for being here. 

And members may have 5 days to insert statements and questions for the record, subject to the length limitations in the rules. 

The Chair now recognizes herself for 5 minutes. 

It was thought that the human rights situation in Iran couldn’t 

possibly get any worse than it was under the tyranny of 

Ahmadinejad. During Ahmadinejad’s 8 years in office, Iran saw a 

precipitous increase in the numbers of prisoners of conscience, journalists in jail, executions, and the ethnic and religious minority 

communities all suffered a great deal. 

Of course, we cannot forget the 2009 Green Movement in Iran in 

which millions took to the streets to protest Ahmadinejad’s stay in 

power calling for reforms. This was an opportunity for the United 

States to lend its support for a reform movement in Iran, but instead the administration refused to support the Green Movement, 

and missed a real opportunity to support change in a part of the 

world that is resistant to peaceful change. 

It is, unfortunately, a mistake we have seen with this administration too often, and we are seeing the results of its inaction and 

indecisiveness now. Then, along came the so-called moderate, 

Rouhani, and the Western media and the administration all 

tripped over themselves saying he was a man who could bring reform to Iran. 

What they were forgetting, or choosing to willfully be ignorant of, 

was the fact that this Rouhani was the consummate regime insider, 

2

handpicked by the Supreme Leader to be one of the finalists in the 

Presidential selection. It bears reminding everyone that no policy—

domestic or foreign—gets enacted in Iran without Khamenei’s sayso, and that includes the Iranian regime-sanctioned human rights 

violations. 

Yet everyone wanted so badly to believe that Rouhani would be 

this reformer, and just like he had done when he was Iran’s chief 

nuclear negotiator, he managed to pull the wool over the eyes of 

many. But what we have seen so far in the 1 year since Rouhani 

won the June 14, 2013, selection—and I call it a selection because 

the people of Iran were given a false choice of selecting one of 

Khamenei’s handpicked choices. 

Well, according to the most objective analysis, the human rights 

situation in Iran has not gotten better, and in many areas it has 

gotten worse. There have been over 670 executions under Rouhani, 

and over 900 political prisoners remain in jail. According to some 

human rights groups, Iranian authorities have executed on average 

more than two people a day in 2014, many of whom have been political prisoners or members of ethnic minority communities. 

But the wanton and flagrant human rights abuse practices don’t 

just end there. In Rouhani’s Iran, the regime continues to stifle 

free speech, freedom of the press, right to assembly, jailing bloggers 

and social media users, and shutting down media organizations, 

and jailing journalists. Some reports indicate that there are upwards of 40 journalists and bloggers. Iran has the world’s second 

highest number of jailed journalists, 100 human rights defenders, 

and hundreds of religious minorities unjustly imprisoned in Iran. 

One of the most endangered groups are the Baha’is, Iran’s largest non-Muslim religious minority, who have seen their community 

constantly targeted for persecution and imprisonment. 

There are over 150 members of the Baha’i community currently 

in Iran’s prisons, including Rozita Vaseghi, who, as part of the Tom 

Lantos Human Rights Commission’s Defending Freedoms Project, 

I have adopted as my prisoner of conscience. 

These prisoners of conscience are being held in Iranian prisons 

merely for professing and practicing their religious beliefs. And 

many, like Rozita, have been sentenced to harsh prison sentences 

of 5 years or more where they are placed in solitary confinement, 

subjected to cruel conditions, and denied the medical attention they 

need. 

Christians continue to be intimidated, harassed, and detained, 

including U.S. citizen pastor Saeed Abedini, who was just recently 

taken from his hospital bed, beaten, and thrown back in jail, and 

who has suffered a multitude of injuries at the hands of the Iranian authorities. 

Then, of course, there is South Florida resident Robert Levinson, 

who lives in Congressman Deutch’s district, and his family lives 

there, who was abducted in Iran over 2,500 days ago and is now 

the longest held captive in U.S. history. Despite Iranian promises 

to aid in the investigation and search for him, they have been less 

than forthcoming. 

The litany of cruel and inhumane human rights abuses that continue to occur under Rouhani is seemingly endless. But Rouhani 

knows that all he needs to do is smile and Tweet and promise the 

3

U.S. and the West that he will cooperate on the nuclear issue, and 

his transgressions against the Iranian people will be forgiven or 

overlooked. 

Is that really how we want America to project our foreign policy? 

It is way past time for the administration to stand up to these 

thugs and to stand up for the people who cannot stand up for 

themselves. If we won’t do it, who will? 

I am pleased to yield to the ranking member, my good friend, Mr. 

Deutch of Florida. 

Mr. DEUTCH. Thank you. Thank you, Madam Chairman, for holding today’s really important hearing. And thanks to all of our witnesses for being here today as well. 

As the world remains focused on Iran’s illicit nuclear program, 

we must not—we cannot ignore this regime, which is still the 

world’s largest state sponsor of terror, is responsible for the detention of three American citizens, and is one of the world’s worst 

human rights abusers. 

Today we will shed light on the continued grotesque human 

rights violations that take place in Iran. June 14 marks a year 

since Hassan Rouhani was elected President with the perhaps reluctant support of some of Iran’s opposition movement. Unfortunately, despite Rouhani’s campaign promises, the human rights situation in Iran remains unchanged. Repression of basic rights and 

discrimination against minority groups has continued every single 

day. 

Congress has passed, and the administration has enacted, numerous provisions of Iran’s sanction laws, both in the 2010 Comprehensive Iran Sanctions Accountability and Divestment Act, and 

in 2011’s Iran Threat Reduction and Syria Human Rights Act, to 

ban visas, to impose asset freezes and travel bans on those persons 

and entities responsible for human rights abuses in Iran. 

Just last week the U.N. Special Rapporteur on human rights in 

Iran, whose mandate was renewed by the U.N. Human Rights 

Council at the end of March, some 8 months into the Rouhani presidency, expressed outrage over the alarming number of executions 

that have taken place in Iran this year. Per capita, Iran ranks first 

in the world in terms of executions. According to the Iran Human 

Rights Documentation Center, more than 500 executions have 

taken place this year alone, but the Iranian Government has only 

publicly reported on some 125. 

A recent report by Dr. Ahmed Shaheed, the U.N. Special 

Rapporteur, stated that there are at least 895 prisoners of conscience and political prisoners incarcerated in Iran. This includes 

political activists, religious minorities, civic activists, students, 

journalists, and other civil society leaders. Political prisoners face 

widespread physical, mental, and often sexual abuse. 

Iran continues to discriminate and to perpetrate egregious 

abuses against minorities. The Baha’i, the largest non-Muslim religious group in Iran, numbering somewhere between 300,000 and 

500,000, endures denial for jobs and other educational opportunities based on group membership, and faces discrimination throughout the Iranian judicial system. 

As of last year, 136 Baha’i were being held in Iranian prison for 

religious reasons. And since 2005, 49 incidents of arson have been 

4

reported on Baha’i property, without a single arrest being made for 

these crimes. In 2010, seven Baha’i leaders were arrested and sentenced to 20 years in prison. 

Women are rarely afforded equal treatment in the judicial system in Iran. In fact, Iranian courts regard the testimony of a 

woman to be worth half of that of a man. Earlier this year, an Iranian woman who had been sentenced to death by stoning for adultery was released from prison after the international community 

seized on her case. This is precisely—precisely why constant pressure from the United States and our allies is so critical. 

Iranian women have recently been persecuted for posting pictures of themselves without hijabs as part of the My Stealthy Freedom Movement, established by an Iranian journalist who has since 

been publicly denounced on TV. Women are subject to fines by the 

morality police for failing to wear a hijab in public. And, 

shockingly, there are now calls for a well-known Iranian actress, 

Leila Hatami, to be publicly flogged after a male director kissed 

her cheek at the Cannes Film Festival. 

In Iran, the LGBT community is all but silenced. Homosexuality 

is a crime. Iran is one of seven countries where those engaging in 

consensual same-sex relationships can be punished, and the punishment is death. Just this week, a prominent LGBT poet was arrested. News reports apparently accused him of trying to spread 

homosexuality, as his work was published by publishing houses 

outside of Iran, because he is not allowed to freely publish his writing inside his own country. 

Free speech and freedom of expression, freedom of the press, are 

virtually non-existent in Iran. We must not allow Iran to drop an 

electronic curtain on its people. The internet and all social media 

in Iran is highly censored, despite the fact that both President 

Rouhani and Foreign Minister Zarif are quite active on Twitter. 

The U.S. has the tools to go after those who engage in this kind 

of electronic repression, and we must use them. Executive Order 

13628, which authorizes the United States Treasury to sanction 

those who engage in censorship or other activities that limit the 

freedom of expression or assembly of the Iranian people, must be 

utilized. 

Madam Chairman, we could literally spend all day sharing examples of all of the ways that the people of Iran are deprived of 

their most basic human rights. The U.S. must continue to speak 

out in support, as well as to implement policies that bolster education and outreach to Iranian society. 

Human rights cannot take a back seat in negotiations with Iran. 

We must commit ourselves, and we must continue to call on every 

nation that we call a partner to not ignore what is going on inside 

of Iran. Any country that values human rights must stand up for 

those rights everywhere. 

I want to thank the witnesses for being here, and I want to 

thank you for what you do. 

And, Madam Chairman, I yield back. 

Ms. ROS-LEHTINEN. Thank you very much for an excellent statement, Mr. Deutch. 

5

I am now pleased to yield to the chairman of the Subcommittee 

on Africa, Global Health, Global Human Rights, and International 

Organizations, Mr. Smith of New Jersey. 

Mr. SMITH. Thank you very much, Madam Chair. And I think, 

again, working together, the two subcommittees, sends a very clear 

and powerful message on issues, particularly as relates to human 

rights in Iran. So, again, it is great to work with you and your subcommittee. 

Madam Chair, the end of this month will mark 2 years since 

Pastor Saeed Abedini had seen or hugged his wife, Naghmeh, and 

his children, Rebecca and Jacob. What started out as a meaningful 

humanitarian trip to build an orphanage for children suffering in 

Iran has tragically left Pastor Saeed’s young children fatherless for 

the last few years. 

Pastor Saeed has been arrested in Iran before, but he was released and told he could enter and exit the country for humanitarian work if he agreed to cease pastoring house churches. As Pastor Saeed’s wife, Naghmeh, testified before our two subcommittees 

in December, Pastor Saeed accepted the Iranian requirement and 

turned to building an orphanage instead, but Iran did not uphold 

its end of the agreement. 

Pastor Saeed was arrested in September 2012 and remanded to 

a prison notorious for housing Iran’s worst criminals. He was denied contact with his attorney until just before the trial. The trial 

was a sham. It was not public. He and his attorney were barred 

from participating in key portions of the trial, following which a 

judge sentenced him to 8 years in prison, supposedly undermining 

the security of Iran—what a cruel joke that is—by sharing his faith 

and/or practicing Christianity. 

A lot of the details are unclear, and discussion is very difficult 

as the Iranian Government has denied Pastor Saeed Abedini’s own 

lawyers access to the judicial decisions. He has suffered periods of 

solitary confinement, beatings, internal bleeding, death threats, 

and continued psychological torture during his 630 days in captivity. 

Although Pastor Saeed was finally permitted to be examined this 

winter by a private physician in Tehran, who determined he needed surgery for internal injuries, he was denied any necessary treatment. Instead, on May 20, just a few weeks ago, Pastor Saeed was 

brutally beaten at the hospital in front of his Iranian family and 

then returned to prison. 

Unfortunately, Pastor Saeed isn’t the only American held under 

questionable and under dire circumstances by the Iranian Government. Amir Mazeri Hekmati is a 31-year-old former Marine who 

disappeared while visiting his family in Iran in 2011. He was subsequently tried and sentenced to death on charges of cooperating 

with an enemy state and accused of moharab, or enmity to God. He 

has also been accused of being a CIA agent. 

Mr. Hekmati has been an Iranian prisoner for more than 1,000 

days on these trumped up charges. Meanwhile, his father is dying 

of brain cancer and may never see his son again in life. 

The Iranian Government is also believed to have imprisoned retired Federal FBI agent Robert Levinson. Mr. Levinson traveled to 

Dubai, then to Iran’s Kish Island, and hasn’t been seen since. In 

6

March 2011, the administration announced there were indications 

that Mr. Levinson was being held somewhere in Southeast Asia, 

but the Iranian Government has not lived up to its promise to fully 

investigate his disappearance. He has now been in captivity for 

nearly 2,500 days. 

The false imprisonment of American citizens did not change 

under President Rouhani, and one excuse proffered is that somehow the Iranian legal system is organized differently than the 

American legal system. Of course we believe that the President has 

huge power. That said, we know that in the United States the executive branch investigates, prosecutes, and imprisons those convicted of crimes, and the role of the judiciary is limited to the trial 

of cases and the hearing of appeals. 

In Iran, the judicial branch investigates and prosecutes alleged 

crimes. The judiciary tries the cases, executes the sentences, supervises the prisons, and runs programs that purportedly rehab the 

prisoners. The Chief Justice is also the official to whom requests 

for pardons are initially addressed, for it is he who bears the responsibility of making recommendations to the Supreme Leader for 

both pardoning or reducing the sentences of convicts within the 

framework of Islamic criteria. 

I, therefore, respectfully call on the Chief Justice. We have called 

on the President many times, and the Foreign Minister. Many of 

us have conveyed strong views directly to him, but now we call on 

the Chief Justice to help resolve these cases that have become such 

a sore point between the United States and Iran. 

And, specifically, I ask that the Chief Justice visit or appoint a 

personal representative to visit Pastor Abedini, Mr. Hekmati, and 

Mr. Levinson, in the prisons where they are held and that Chief 

Justice review the integrity of their trial processes and instruct the 

Prosecutor General to release for public review the full trial and 

appeal records, including the evidence on which the court relied for 

each of their cases. 

The Chief Justice is also asked to permit representatives of the 

Swiss Ambassador in Tehran, Giulio Haas, to visit with each of 

these prisoners and to report back to his government, and to ours, 

on the state of their health and the conditions of their imprisonment. 

My reading of Article 156 of the Iranian Constitution is that it 

is the judiciary’s role to serve as the protector of the rights of individuals and society and I call on the Chief Justice to implement 

that. 

Ironically, Iran wants the world to lift sanctions and trust them 

with nuclear capabilities, despite continued and violent disregard 

for fundamental human rights, not just for Americans, but for 

countless other people, especially indigenous Iranians. Pastor 

Saeed, Mr. Hekmati, Mr. Levinson, are American citizens, but they 

have not had their freedom. 

U.N. Special Rapporteur for human rights in Iran, Dr. Ahmed 

Shaheed, warned in March 2014, just a few months ago, that hundreds of individuals reportedly remain in some form of confinement 

for exercising their fundamental rights, including 179 Baha’i, 98 

Sunni Muslims, 48 Christians, and 14 Dervish Muslims. 

7

Let me just note, in final, while I am grateful that the President 

raised the case of Pastor Saeed in his call to President Rouhani 

last September, the United States can and must do more to secure 

his release and that of the other two Americans. Naghmeh Abedini 

testified before our committee, you will recall, Madam Chair, in December, and she said, ‘‘While I am grateful’’—this is a quote—‘‘for 

President Obama’s willingness to express concern about my husband and other imprisoned Americans in Iran, during his recent 

phone conversation with Iran’s new President, Rouhani, I was devastated to learn that the administration didn’t even ask for my 

husband’s release when seated directly across the table from the 

leaders of the government that holds him captive.’’ She said that 

right there sitting at that witness table. 

She went on to say, ‘‘My husband is suffering because he is a 

Christian. He is suffering because he is an American. Yet his own 

government, at least the executive and diplomatic representatives, 

have abandoned him,’’ according to Naghmeh. ‘‘Don’t we owe it to 

him as a nation to stand up for his human rights and for his freedom? We need to redouble our efforts.’’ And, again, with the deadline coming up on July 20, we have a window of opportunity that 

cannot be squandered. 

Yield back. 

Ms. ROS-LEHTINEN. Thank you very much, Mr. Smith, for a very 

eloquent statement. I will now recognize members for 1 minute 

opening remarks, and we will begin with Mr. Connolly of Virginia. 

Mr. CONNOLLY. Thank you, Madam Chairman. Imagine for a moment you are a gay woman, Iranian ethnic minority, whose working conditions are deplorable. You would like to take action to improve your life. First, your successful effort to join the workforce is 

commended, since it is something only 32 percent of Iranian 

women ever realize. And it is presumed your husband did not object to your employment, because by law he is allowed to. He can 

legally bar you from the workplace. 

Second, you have eluded charges of consensual same-sex sexual 

activity and have, therefore, avoided possible execution or raids on 

your home. Third, like most Kurds, Arabs, Azeris, or Baluchis in 

Iran, you have persevered through a lifetime of government neglect 

and institutionalized discrimination. 

And, finally, despite overcoming these significant obstacles, you 

are nonetheless arrested for spreading propaganda against the regime and forming socialist groups when you seek to coalesce your 

workplace around the issue of workplace safety. 

The human rights situation in Iran is Medieval and remains 

bleak, and it is very important we speak out about it. 

Thank you, Madam Chairman. And thank you to the ranking 

member for hosting this hearing. 

Ms. ROS-LEHTINEN. Thank you, Mr. Connolly. Well put. 

Mr. Chabot, our subcommittee chairman, is recognized. 

Mr. CHABOT. Thank you, Madam Chair, and I want to commend 

you and Chairman Smith for continuing this series of hearings on 

Iran, perhaps the most dangerous regime in the world today. 

As we discussed in the markup preceding this hearing, Iran continues to be one of the world’s leading abusers of fundamental 

human rights. The example of the pies is only one of many. The 

8

regime persecutes anybody who dares to speak publicly, or not so 

publicly, against the regime, and often issues death sentences to 

Iranians who are charged with insulting Islam. 

It has become pretty clear that the so-called moderate Rouhani 

is just another in a long list of Iranian thugs whose contempt for 

his own people’s fundamental human rights and religious freedom 

is readily apparent. 

I want to thank you for holding this hearing, as I say, and yield 

back. 

Ms. ROS-LEHTINEN. Thank you very much, sir. 

Mr. Cicilline is recognized. 

Mr. CICILLINE. Thank you, Chairman Ros-Lehtinen and Chairman Smith, and Ranking Member Deutch and Ranking Member 

Bass, for holding today’s hearing on this very important issue. 

I would like to thank the witnesses for their testimony before the 

subcommittee this morning, and to say that it is really a great 

honor to be joined by people who exemplify courage and a deep 

commitment in the struggle against injustice and human rights 

abuses. 

Even as we continue to closely monitor negotiations regarding 

Iran’s nuclear capability, we also have a responsibility to address 

other risks such as how Iran threatens universal values of human 

dignity, equality, and free expression. In a region of the world with 

a troubling record on civil liberties and human rights, especially for 

women, girls, and minorities, Iran stands out as particularly egregious. 

In addition to reports of suppression of speech, lack of due process, and discrimination against women and religious minorities, I 

am particularly concerned about the status of sexual and gender 

minorities in Iran. While nearly 80 countries in the world still 

criminalize people for simply being lesbian, gay, bisexual, or 

transgender, Iran is one of the few countries that has the death 

penalty as a potential punishment, a position obviously inconsistent with the most basic respect for human rights. 

So I thank my colleagues for calling this hearing and look forward to the testimony of our witnesses, and yield back, Madam 

Chair. 

Ms. ROS-LEHTINEN. Thank you very much, sir. 

And now we will turn to our panel, wonderful witnesses that we 

have. First, we welcome Dr. Robert George, who is the chairman 

of the U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom. Dr. 

George is also the McCormick Professor of Jurisprudence and Director of the James Madison Program in American Ideals and Institutions at Princeton University. He has taught at Harvard Law 

School and is a senior fellow at the Hoover Institution at Stanford 

University. 

Welcome, Dr. George. 

Mr. GEORGE. Thank you very much, Madam Chairman. 

Ms. ROS-LEHTINEN. And we will just quickly introduce the other 

panelists, and then we will begin with you, Dr. George. 

We also have with us Ms. Cler Baheri, who was born and raised 

in Iran, where she was denied entrance to universities simply because of her faith. After leaving Iran, she was resettled as a refugee in Canada before moving to the United States. 

9

Thank you so much for being with us, Ms. Baheri, and we look 

forward to your testimony. 

And, third, we are so pleased to welcome Mr. Hossein Alizadeh, 

who is the Middle East and North Africa Regional Program Coordinator for the International Gay and Lesbian Human Rights Commission. Mr. Alizadeh has worked over the last 15 years in Iran 

and throughout the region to promote equality and to foster crosscultural understanding and support for the civil and human rights 

of all people. 

We welcome you, sir. 

And, fourth, we welcome Mr. Amir Hossein Etemadi, who is the 

President of the Foundation for the Advancement of Human 

Rights, as well as Editor in Chief of a Persian Web site that covers 

human rights and civil society news in Iran. Because of his role in 

student protests, Mr. Etemadi was imprisoned for 2 years and in 

2010 was forced to leave Iran. 

We welcome all of our witnesses. Your statements will be made 

a part of the record, as I have said. And we will begin with the esteemed Dr. George. Thank you, sir. 

STATEMENT OF ROBERT P. GEORGE, PH.D., CHAIRMAN, U.S. 

COMMISSION ON INTERNATIONAL RELIGIOUS FREEDOM 

Mr. GEORGE. Thank you very much, Madam Chairman. The beliefs defining Iran’s regime remain strongly theocratic. Any Iranian 

dissenting from the regime’s interpretation of Shia Islam may be 

considered an enemy of the state. Since 1999, the United States annually has designated Iran as a country of particular concern, a 

CPC, under the International Religious Freedom Act. That means 

its government ranks among the world’s worst religious freedom 

abusers, subjecting dissenting Iranians of every description to prolonged detention, torture, and even execution. 

The regime’s human rights and religious freedom record must 

feature centrally in any assessment of Iran since President Hassan 

Rouhani took office last August. Madam Chairman, the record, the 

picture, is bleak. Iran’s already dire religious freedom conditions 

have deteriorated during the Rouhani tenure, particularly for Baha’is, Christians, and Muslims belonging to minority Sufi and 

Sunni sects. 

Even members of Iran’s Shia Muslim majority have been targeted, including Ayatollah Boroujerdi, whom I have pictured here, 

who is a Shia cleric who advocates religious tolerance and respect 

for the liberty of members of Iran’s religious community’s minorities. 

Dissidents and human rights defenders increasingly have been 

targeted, and in several cases executed, for the crime of ‘‘waging 

war against God.’’ Many prisoners of conscience remain in Iran’s 

prisons. Some are noted in the appendix that I will provide to my 

testimony. 

Now, here is a snapshot of what we have——

Ms. ROS-LEHTINEN. Without objection, that list will be made a 

part of the record. 

Mr. GEORGE. Thank you, Madam Chairman. Here is a snapshot 

of what has happened under President Rouhani. at least 135 Baha’is are imprisoned because of their religious beliefs, a doubling 

10

of the number, Madam Chairman, since 2011. This past May 

marks 6 years of incarceration for seven Baha’i leaders who were 

imprisoned for following their consciences in matters of faith. 

I am sorry. This is the Baha’i seven. 

Taking a cue from the regime and media, three Baha’i family 

members this February sustained knife injuries from a masked assailant’s attack, and a local leader was murdered last August. No 

one has been charged. The crime is committed with impunity 

against the Baha’is. 

Next to the Baha’is, Iran’s theocratic government views Protestants as its main competitor for Iranian hearts and minds. As of 

February 2014, at least 40 were imprisoned, detailed, or awaiting 

trial. Human rights groups inside Iran reported significant increases in Christians physically assaulted in prison, and that is 

meant to intimidate those considering Christianity. 

Farshid Fathi, a Christian pastor who ran a house church network, was one of those injured. As you can see, he is a young man. 

Pastor Saeed Abedini, as several of you have mentioned, an Iranian-born American minister of the gospel, is serving 8 years on 

the absurd charge of ‘‘threatening Iran’s national security.’’ Here is 

Pastor Abedini. 

Last November he was transferred to another prison known for 

its harsh conditions. In March, prison authorities beat him, as was 

already mentioned. After he was sent to a hospital in May, he reportedly was beaten again and returned to prison. 

During the past year, U.S. policy has included public statements, 

multilateral activity, and imposing unilateral sanctions on Iranian 

Government officials and entities for human rights violations. 

At the U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom, we 

recommend the following, that the U.S. Government should, first, 

include violations of human rights and religious freedom within 

multilateral or bilateral discussions with Iran, and work closely 

with our allies to apply pressure through advocacy, diplomacy, and 

targeted sanctions. 

Number two, continue to designate Iran a country of particular 

concern, and take appropriate actions as enumerated under the 

International Religious Freedom Act. 

Number three, identify Iranian Government agencies and officials responsible for the severe violations of religious freedom, bar 

them from entry to the U.S., freeze their assets, and, as per the 

Comprehensive Iran Sanctions, Accountability, and Divestment 

Act, take action. Next, enact for multiple years the Lautenberg 

Amendment, a lifeline for religious minorities. 

Finally, U.S. officials should speak out publicly and frequently at 

the highest levels about human rights and religious freedom 

abuses, advocate for the release of all prisoners of conscience, and 

work with the international community to hold authorities accountable. Representatives should join the Defending Freedoms Project 

and the Tom Lantos Human Rights Commission, as you, Madam 

Chairman, and the others have done. 

Now, in considering how to engage Iran, let us recall Eli Wiesel’s 

pledge to himself as a defender of conscience and human rights. He 

said, ‘‘I swore never to be silent whenever and wherever human 

beings are suffering humiliation. We must always take sides. NeuVerDate 0ct 09 2002 10:33 Oct 09, 2014 Jkt 000000 PO 00000 Frm 00016 Fmt 6633 Sfmt 6633 F:\WORK\_MENA\061914\88385 SHIRL
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trality helps the oppressor, never the victim. Silence encourages 

the tormentor, never the tormented.’’

Iran’s religious minorities are not waging war against God, but 

the regime’s theocratic rulers are waging war against basic human 

rights of the Iranian people. Their abuses demand our attention 

and action, especially because negotiations on the nuclear issue 

really could divert attention from its increasingly egregious human 

rights and religious freedom violations. 

We mustn’t let that happen. The U.S. should insist that Iran 

demonstrate its commitment to peaceful intentions abroad by ceasing its war at home against its own people and their rights. 

Thank you, Madam Chair. 

[The prepared statement of Mr. George follows:]

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Ms. ROS-LEHTINEN. Thank you so very much, Dr. George. 

Ms. Baheri? Thank you. 

STATEMENT OF MS. CLER BAHERI, MEMBER OF THE BAHA’I 

COMMUNITY 

Ms. BAHERI. Chairman Ros-Lehtinen, Ranking Member——

Ms. ROS-LEHTINEN. Hold on 1 second. Let us stop the clock. Push 

the microphone and hold it close to your mouth. Let us start the 

clock again. 

Ms. BAHERI. Got it. 

Ms. ROS-LEHTINEN. Thank you. 

Ms. BAHERI. Chairman Ros-Lehtinen, Ranking Member Deutch, 

and members of the subcommittee, my name is Cler Baheri. I was 

born in Tabriz, Iran, and I am a Baha’i. I want to thank you for 

giving me the opportunity to share my story with you. 

I would like to request that my written statement be included 

in——

Ms. ROS-LEHTINEN. Without objection. 

Ms. BAHERI. The Baha’i community of Iran has been the target 

of systemic and severe state-sponsored persecution since the Islamic Revolution of 1979. My family and my husband’s family have 

experienced this persecution firsthand. 

When the revolution began in 1979, I was 12. My father, Mehdi 

Baheri, had been serving on the local spiritual assembly of Tabriz, 

the elected governing council of the Baha’i community in that city. 

As a result, our house was raided five times. And finally, in 1980, 

my father and several other members of the Tabriz assembly, along 

with two other local Baha’is, were arrested and imprisoned. 

In prison, my father was notified that because he was a Baha’i, 

his employment as an accountant with the Ministry of Health had 

been terminated, and salary owed to him was canceled. And his retirement funds, which had accumulated over the course of 24 years 

in the civil service, were repossessed. 

My family and I would visit my father once a week. My brother 

and I would take our report cards to show to my father. He told 

us that he was happy that we were doing well in school. Once he 

wrote us a birthday note on a piece of clothing that was sent to us 

to be laundered. In the note he said he needed us to understand 

that he was not in prison for any crime other than his belief in the 

Baha’i faith, and that he wanted us to fight for him by continuing 

to do well in school. 

A few days before his execution, my father was taken in the middle of the night into a room with one interrogator and a tape recorder. The interrogator fell asleep and my father was expected to 

continue to answer a list of questions that had been put in front 

of him. This was his so-called trial. 

After their trials, my father and the other Baha’is were sentenced to death and held in solitary confinement for 24 hours. During this time, they were given the choice of Islam or edam, which 

means Islam or death. This meant that if they recanted their faith 

and declared themselves to be Muslims, their lives would be 

spared. All of them refused. Instead, they declared that they were 

Baha’is, and for this they were killed. 

45

On July 29, ’81, at the age of 47, my father, Mehdi Baheri, was 

executed. And this is a picture of him. 

My brother was 9 and I was 15. 

When my family was informed of my father’s death, one of our 

relatives went to receive the body. The prison authorities forced 

them to pay for the bullets that had taken his life. Later that 

night, the executions were announced on the radio. The announcer 

stated that my father and the others were convicted of corruption 

on Earth and warring against God. 

I finished high school in Iran in 1983. Though I had one of the 

highest scores on the provincial exams, I, like many other students 

across Iran, was denied entrance to university solely because of my 

faith. The next year I left Iran alone, traveling on the back of a 

truck through the desert into Pakistan. I was eventually resettled 

as a refugee in Canada, and I now live in Virginia with my husband, Naim Sobhani. 

Naim is also Baha’i, and he is from Tehran. As a young man, he 

was arrested and detained three times in Iran, twice for playing 

jazz in private concerts, and once for possessing educational material in his car for Baha’i children. When he was arrested for having 

the children’s material, he was imprisoned for 2 months and was 

often held in solitary confinement in a small room with no windows. He was 18 at the time. 

Naim was also denied admittance to university because he was 

a Baha’i. Soon after, he left Iran alone, traveling with a tribal 

guide through the western mountains into Turkey. After being 

stranded in a mountain village for 5 days during border skirmishes, he crossed the border into Turkey. He was also processed 

by the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees and was 

resettled in Maryland. 

Naim’s father, Riaz Sobhani, is currently imprisoned in Iran for 

his efforts to educate Baha’i youth. He had been a successful civil 

engineer, but soon after the revolution he was terminated from his 

job for being a Baha’i, and his salary, pension, and savings were 

seized. 

In the years following the revolution, Baha’i students and professors were expelled from universities, and Baha’i youth were denied 

the right to attend university. In 1987, Riaz, my father-in-law, 

along with several other Baha’is, most of whom were academics 

and professionals, who had also lost their jobs after the revolution, 

came together to form the Baha’i Institute for Higher Learning, 

known as BIHE. 

BIHE is an informal network of classes designed to educate 

young Baha’is in a range of subjects, such as biology, engineering, 

psychology, architecture, and law. Materials and funds are donated, and the classes are usually held in homes. BIHE serves as 

the only viable avenue through which Iran’s young Baha’is can obtain higher education. 

My father-in-law, Riaz, has been instrumental in BIHE from the 

beginning, managing administrative work and hosting classes in 

his home. For over 20 years, he and the other dedicated faculty and 

staff of BIHE have been giving freely of themselves to ensure that 

against all odds the next generation of Baha’is has a chance to contribute to society. 

46

In May 2011, there was a series of raids on dozens of homes associated with BIHE. Riaz was arrested, along with several other 

Baha’is. He and the others were initially held in Tehran’s notorious 

Evin Prison. In October, after a brief show trial, he and six other 

Baha’i educators were convicted of membership in the deviant 

Baha’ist sect, with the goal of taking action against the security of 

the country, in order to further the aims of the deviant sect and 

those of organizations outside the country. They were each sentenced to 4 to 5 years, with my father-in-law receiving 4 years. 

After their sentencing, Riaz and the others were moved to Rajai 

Shahr Prison in Gohardasht, Iran, where the male prisoners were 

put in the same ward as the members of seven imprisoned Baha’i 

leaders known as the Yaran. In the years since then, other BIHE 

educators have been imprisoned. Thus, there are now 12 individuals who are imprisoned solely because of their efforts to educate 

Baha’is. 

And this is a picture of the 12 currently in Rajai Shahr. 

What my husband’s family is now living through because of my 

father-in-law’s imprisonment is, unfortunately, nothing new. Their 

experience with persecution started long before Riaz’s current imprisonment. Soon after the revolution, two of Riaz’s cousins were 

executed for being a Baha’i. 

When Naim’s little brother, Navid, who was 6 years at the time 

passed away, they buried him in a small Baha’i cemetery. Soon 

after, the cemetery was bulldozed and turned into an agricultural 

field. A few years later, Naim’s grandmother and aunt were arrested and imprisoned for being Baha’is. They were held in Evin 

for 1 year, in solitary confinement for part of that time, and they 

were repeatedly beaten and tortured. 

In the last several years, Naim’s younger sister, Zhinoos, and her 

husband, Artin, have both been imprisoned twice. Zhinoos, who 

was also denied admission to university, completed her studies in 

law with BIHE and is now working at the Defenders of Human 

Rights Center, an organization founded by Nobel Laureate Shirin 

Ebadi, who has since——

Ms. ROS-LEHTINEN. Ms. Baheri, if I could impose——

Ms. BAHERI. Sure. 

Ms. ROS-LEHTINEN [continuing]. A time limit on your statement. 

Ms. BAHERI. Okay. Sure. 

Ms. ROS-LEHTINEN. So sorry to do so. 

Ms. BAHERI. Not a problem. I am almost there. In November 

2013, President Rouhani released a draft citizens rights charter. As 

human rights organizations have noted, it is a restrictive and problematic document that raises very serious concerns. One of these 

concerns is that the charter states that the rights it enumerates 

apply only to religious minorities recognized by the Iranian constitution, a group that excludes Baha’is. In recent months, two 

Baha’i cemeteries were attacked, one in Sanandaj and one in 

Shiraz. 

I would like to thank the House of Representatives for passing 

on May 28 H.R. 4028, which adds the desecration of cemeteries to 

religious freedom violations under the International Religious Freedom Act, and I hope that the Senate and the President will agree 

to this much-needed provision. 

47

[The prepared statement of Ms. Baheri follows:]


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Ms. ROS-LEHTINEN. Thank you very much. Thank you, Ms. 

Baheri, for your powerful testimony. We thank you. 

Ms. BAHERI. Thank you. 

Ms. ROS-LEHTINEN. And now I am pleased to yield to Mr. 

Alizadeh. Thank you, sir. 

STATEMENT OF MR. HOSSEIN ALIZADEH, REGIONAL PROGRAM COORDINATOR FOR THE MIDDLE EAST AND NORTH 

AFRICA, INTERNATIONAL GAY & LESBIAN HUMAN RIGHTS 

COMMISSION 

Mr. ALIZADEH. Thank you, Madam Chairman, Ranking Member 

Deutch, and the distinguished members of the House Committee on 

Foreign Affairs. Thank you for inviting me to testify today at a 

hearing on Iran. 

Almost 1 year ago, Iranians went to the polls to choose the seventh President of the Islamic Republic of Iran. Few people in Iran 

had any illusions about a flawed electoral process or the real power 

of the President in Iran. Over the past three decades, elections in 

Iran have been filled with allegations of vote rigging, intimidation, 

threats against candidates, and, more importantly, widespread disqualification of independent and opposition candidates by the electoral monitoring body. 

Just last week, on the 1-year anniversary of his election, the Iranian President, Hassan Rouhani, himself openly noted that elections in Iran have the reputation of being a political sham. 

Unlike the United States, Iran’s constitution allows limited authority to the President of the country. The Office of the President 

in Iran, for example, has no control over the army, the intelligence, 

the police, or key foreign policy issues. The real center of power in 

Iran’s politics is the Office of the Supreme Leader, Ayatollah Ali 

Khamenei, who has the final political, religious, and military say. 

Furthermore, the Ayatollah’s office is exempt from regular checks 

and balances. 

Although these facts may be already known to the distinguished 

members of the committee, a brief mention of them may help us 

to set realistic expectations while evaluating the President’s performance and his accomplishments. The truth of the matter is, 

within the political dynamics of the Islamic Republic, the Office of 

President cannot be an engine of significant change, even at the 

best of times. 

On a bigger scale, it is neither realistic, nor logical, to expect a 

self-declared theocracy, such as the Islamic Republic of Iran, to 

function as a secular democracy. Over the past 12 months, the 

human rights situation in Iran has demonstrated no significant improvement in comparison to the status of human rights under 

former President Ahmadinejad. 

The state has continued to carry out a high number of executions, including the execution of political prisoners. Other instances 

of human rights violations include extrajudicial arrests, house arrests, juvenile execution, mistreatment and torture of detainees, 

regular interference in the privacy of citizens, the ban of free 

speech, and the persecution of individuals based on their religious 

beliefs and political opinions. 

52

I would like here to specifically highlight the plight of Iranian 

gay, lesbian, bisexual, and transgender individuals. Iran’s penal 

code continues to prescribe the death penalty for consensual samesex relations. The official media and top publications, and top officials, including Iran’s Supreme Leader, Ayatollah Khamenei, regularly attack homosexuality as a Western conspiracy and a sign of 

moral decay. 

Individuals suspected of being gay, lesbian, or transgender face 

systematic acts of violence and discrimination. Newspapers are 

shut down for publishing opinion pieces about same-sex relations. 

Security forces raid private parties of suspected LGBT people and 

subject them to beating, humiliation, and the confiscation of property. 

Professors and students are forced to leave universities for organizing academic discussions about gender and sexuality. Even 

worse, acts of violence against suspected LGBT family members 

often go unpunished and unnoticed. As a result of those oppressive 

realities, every year hundreds of LGBT individuals leave their 

home country and seek asylum in the West, including the United 

States. I am one of them. 

I am of course horrified by the human rights violations occurring 

in Iran, but I do believe that Rouhani’s presidency provides an opportunity for the Iranian people and the international community 

to successfully demand more freedom for the people of Iran. 

Unlike its predecessor, Rouhani seems to believe in less government control, more international trade, and a stronger role for academic and professional communities. No one can or should mistake 

Rouhani for a champion of human rights. However, he appears 

willing to make small improvements and seems to have the political and social capital to do so. 

The United States Government has a moral obligation to provide 

opportunities and resources for the Iranian people in order to give 

them broader access to information about human rights standards 

and personal freedoms, especially through funding technology to 

fight internet censorship and to develop informative resources in 

Persian. 

The political opening created by Rouhani’s election should be utilized through significant investment in public awareness to counter 

the notion that human rights are not compatible with Iranian traditions and values. Also, it is very important to keep in mind that 

the authorities in Iran should take note that the West is not really 

interested in its bottom line or lucrative oil business. 

They need to know that the international community cares about 

human rights records of Iran and to take action of positive and 

negative developments in that regard. More importantly, human 

rights protection should not be a footnote or in the fine print of bilateral and regional negotiations. The United States and the West 

should speak loudly and clearly about the importance of human 

rights and make sure to discuss this topic in every conversation. 

Thank you. 

[The prepared statement of Mr. Alizadeh follows:]

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Ms. ROS-LEHTINEN. Thank you very much, sir. 

And now, pleased to yield to Mr. Etemadi. Thank you. 

STATEMENT OF MR. AMIR HOSSEIN ETEMADI, FORMER 

IRANIAN POLITICAL PRISONER 

Mr. ETEMADI. Madam Chairman, Ranking Member Deutch——

Ms. ROS-LEHTINEN. Hold on a second. We will stop the clock, and 

we will put that mike right in front of you. Thank you. 

Mr. ETEMADI. Thank you. Madam Chairman, Ranking Member 

Deutch, and members of the subcommittee, thank you for this opportunity to testify before you today. 

I am Amir Hossein Etemadi, a former Iranian political prisoner 

and the current spokesman of Iranian Liberal Students and Graduates. 

What motivated me to speak at this hearing is the continuation 

of the systematic and widespread violation of human rights and 

suppression of basic freedom of Iranian people, along with the efforts of the international community to prevent the Iranian regime 

from achieving nuclear weapons. 

Today, the Islamic Republic of Iran, under pressure of the sanctions, has been forced to inevitably submit to parts of the international community’s requests on its nuclear case. It would not be 

off the mark to claim that the election of Hassan Rouhani in June 

2013 was due to this pressure. On the contrary, the noteworthy silence of the international community in the face of human rights 

violations in Iran has encouraged the Islamic Republic to further 

expand and aggravate violation of the Iranian people’s rights. 

According to a report by human rights watchers, since Hassan 

Rouhani’s election, at least 750 people, including 38 political prisoners, have been executed. Almost all of them were deprived of 

their rights to due process and a fair trial. In the past year, arrests, issuance, and enforcement of prison sentences for religious 

minorities, including Baha’is, Christian converts, Sufis, and Sunni 

Muslims, have been continued. 

Rouhani’s government, like its predecessors, does not recognize 

followers of the Baha’i faith as a religious minority, and they are 

still banned from attending universities. On the other hand, despite all his promises during the Presidential campaign to release 

the political prisoners, especially Mehdi Karroubi, Mir Hossein 

Moussavi, and Zahra Rahnavard, the Green Movement leaders 

have been under house arrest since February 2011. Not only Mr. 

Rouhani did nothing for them, even more journalists and bloggers, 

human rights defenders, labor and civic activists, students, cyber 

activists, and dissidents have been arrested in the past year. 

Moreover, while Facebook and Twitter continue to be blocked, 

Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, the Supreme Leader, and Hassan 

Rouhani, along with other members of the government, such as 

Foreign Minister Javad Zarif, are active on these social networks. 

Iran State TV, which has a monopoly on visual audio media in 

Iran, still has an important role in censorship and false propaganda of the Iranian regime against its opponents. Terrestrial jamming of satellite signals by transmitting rogue and strong electromagnetic frequencies have been intensified since the new governVerDate 0ct 09 2002 10:33 Oct 09, 2014 Jkt 000000 PO 00000 Frm 00065 Fmt 6633 Sfmt 6633 F:\WORK\_MENA\061914\88385 SHIRL
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ment has taken office to an extent that their possible health hazard 

and link to cancer have been discussed in Iranian local media. 

Ladies and gentlemen, at such time, I, as individual who has experienced detention, torture, and harassment by the Iranian regime for my peaceful political activities, ask you to place the Islamic Republic’s human rights dossier on the nuclear negotiation 

table, and tie the final resolution of the latter to settling of Iran’s 

human rights file. 

I believe that the U.S. and its allies at least could ask Iranian 

authorities to be committed to their international obligations on 

these specific cases. One, agreeing to a trip to Iran by Mr. Ahmed 

Shaheed, United Nations Special Rapporteur, on the situation of 

human rights in Iran, and granting him the permission to freely 

meet with the victims of human rights violations. 

Two, ending transmission of rogue frequency aimed at jamming 

satellite signals, in accordance with Iran’s obligations as a member 

of International Communication Associations. Three, commitment 

to free elections, in accordance with Declaration on Free and Fair 

Elections passed by Inter-Parliamentary Union in 1994 to which 

Iran is a signatory. 

I would also like to ask you to, firstly, ensure full adherence of 

the U.S. Government to the existing sanctions against violators of 

human rights and those individuals involved in crackdown and 

suppression of the dissidents. Secondly, place Ayatollah Khamenei, 

Islamic Republic Supreme Leader, and all the financial and military organizations under his control, as the main responsible party 

and orchestrator of human rights violations in Iran, on the list of 

the sanctions. 

Keeping The Execution of Imam Khomeini’s Order, EIKO, and 

the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, IRGC, and their subsidiaries on the list would have two results. It ensures that the release 

of frozen Iranian funds, which belong to Iranian people, would not 

be controlled by oppressive organizations, and also it would intensify the pressure on the violators of human rights. 

Thank you. 

[The prepared statement of Mr. Etemadi follows:]

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Ms. ROS-LEHTINEN. Thank you very much, all of you, for powerful testimony. 

I will begin the question and answer period. We have heard the 

harsh realities of the human rights situation in Iran. Dr. George, 

sadly, Iran is not alone. Part of your Commission’s mandate by law 

is to review the ongoing facts and circumstances of violations of religious freedom around the world, present that in your annual review, make policy recommendations to the President, to the Secretary of State, and to us in Congress, with respect to matters relating to international religious freedom. 

How many countries are currently listed by the State Department as a country of particular concern due to their ongoing and 

systematic violations of religious freedom? How many did your 

Commission recommend to be listed? When was the last time a 

new country was designated as a country for particular concern by 

the State Department? 

And why does the administration repeatedly overrule your Commission’s recommendations? Is this symptomatic of the larger problem that the United States is dropping advocating for religious 

freedom and human rights so low on our foreign policy agenda? 

Have we been using all of the tools available to us—namely, sanctions—to promote religious freedom and human rights? 

And let me just ask the questions, and we will have all of you 

respond. And, Ms. Baheri, thank you, again, for your testimony, 

telling your story, a story that unfortunately is not unique to just 

you as a member of the Baha’i community. 

In your testimony, you talked about Rouhani’s Citizen Rights 

Charter, and this was part of his so-called reform agenda. But, as 

you note, it raises very serious concerns, the least of which that it 

still does not recognize the Baha’i as a religious minority. Do you 

believe Rouhani has ushered in an era of reform and moderation, 

or is he really just another man in part of the inner circle of the 

Supreme Leader who has managed to fool so many with his smooth 

talking and empty promises, the so-called window of reform? 

And, Mr. Etemadi, you have been a political prisoner of the Iranian regime. In your testimony, you say that the silence of the 

international communities, in the face of ongoing human rights violations in Iran, has actually encouraged Rouhani and the regime to 

even further expand these abuses and curtail the rights of his people. 

Has the rush by the media in the West to anoint Rouhani as a 

reformer, a moderate, blinded us to his real nature because we 

want to believe that he can change Iran? And the administration’s 

push for a nuclear deal without pursuing the human rights track 

as well, has emboldened the Iranian regime to continue committing 

these atrocities without repercussions. 

And we will begin with Dr. George, if you could be brief in your 

remarks. 

Mr. GEORGE. Thank you, again, Madam Chairman. I want to address one of the points you made well into your question, and that 

is this question of silence, international silence, silence sometimes 

from those of us here in the United States. 

As I said in recent testimony to Chairman Smith’s committee, 

there is a time and place for quiet diplomacy, yes. I can tell you 

65

some examples from our own experience at the Commission where 

that time and place have existed, but most of the time staying 

quiet simply encourages the human rights abusers to continue the 

human rights abuses. Most of the time what we need are vocal 

forms of resistance, criticism of these abusive regimes, and that is 

certainly true here with Iran. 

Madam Chairman, currently the State Department designates 

eight countries as countries of particular concern, the worst religious freedom abusers. These are Burma, China, Eritrea, Iran, 

North Korea, Saudi Arabia, Sudan, and Uzbekistan. 

We currently are recommending eight additional countries. Some 

of them have been our recommendations for several years, but, as 

you noted, those recommendations haven’t always been taken. The 

countries that we are recommending but have not been designated 

as countries of particular concern are Egypt, Iraq, Nigeria, Pakistan, Syria, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan, and Vietnam. We list Pakistan at the very top of our list of offending nations, which have not 

yet been designated as countries of particular concern. If there is 

one country at the top of the list that should be so designated, as 

I have recently testified, that is Pakistan because of the horrific 

abuses that take place there, including abuses, again, against the 

Baha’i community. 

The last designations by the State Department were in 2011, I 

believe. We strongly advocate annual designations. If annual designations aren’t made, the designations become, in the words of my 

colleague, the vice chairman of our Commission, Katrina Lantos 

Swett, the daughter of the great Tom Lantos, the human rights activist and Congressman, as she says, these recommendations become part of the wallpaper and nobody notices them anymore. 

We really need the annual designations, and we are pressing our 

leadership. Whether it is a Republican administration or a Democratic administration, doesn’t matter. 

Ms. ROS-LEHTINEN. Thank you. 

Mr. GEORGE. We want them to make these designations on an 

annual basis. 

Now, as far as why our recommendation——

Ms. ROS-LEHTINEN. And I am going to just stop you a second, because I asked too many questions, but I am going to give a chance 

to——

Mr. GEORGE. Oh, sure. 

Ms. ROS-LEHTINEN [continuing]. Ms. Baheri to respond, and Mr. 

Etemadi. 

Ms. BAHERI. Thank you. As you mentioned, with respect to the 

Baha’is in particular, the rights discussed in the charter apply only 

to religious minorities officially recognized by the Irani constitution, which excludes Baha’is. 

As to Mr. Rouhani’s moderate practices, as an Iranian, I have 

been hopeful. And, as a Baha’i, we are strictly non-violent and obedient to the government we live in. We participate in non-partisan 

politics. 

We have noticed that in the last year, since Mr. Rouhani’s presidency, we have had cemeteries that have been desecrated, we have 

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ruary 2014, and there has been no progress in the investigation of 

their case. 

Just as of yesterday, there was a report from the Baha’i International News that in January this was the catalogued anti-Baha’i 

articles that were on Web sites, and so forth. In January, there was 

55; in February, there was 72; in March, there was 93; April, 285; 

and, in May, there were 366 anti-Baha’i. So——

Ms. ROS-LEHTINEN. Thank you very much. 

Ms. BAHERI. Yes. 

Ms. ROS-LEHTINEN. And Mr. Etemadi? 

Mr. ETEMADI. Thank you. Actually, the real problem in Iran is 

under the hand of Ali Khamenei, Supreme Leader. And, as I said, 

the election of Hassan Rouhani was the result of international 

pressure to decrease this pressure. 

Actually, Rouhani doesn’t have enough power to change the situation of human rights in Iran, and I don’t think, though, even if 

he had, he would change anything here, because he is not reformist. As we know, he is very close to Mr. Khamenei, and actually I 

think it is to show—the regime to show him as a reformist. 

Ms. ROS-LEHTINEN. Thank you very much. Thank you. 

Pleased to yield to the ranking member, Mr. Deutch, for his 

question and answer period. 

Mr. DEUTCH. Thank you, Madam Chairman. 

Thanks to the witnesses for being here. It is almost overwhelming. It is—the breadth of abuses in Iran is almost too difficult for us to get our arms around. So I would like to try to approach it a different way. 

Dr. George, I know you focus on religious freedom, and I appreciate what you do. Let me start with the other witnesses——

Mr. GEORGE. Sure. 

Mr. DEUTCH [continuing]. Though. We are viewing all of this as 

a human rights issue. But I would like you to speak to the Americans, the American people, to help us understand, help them understand what it means in each specific area. Ms. Baheri, what 

would you say to the religious community in our country to help 

them understand—help them feel the type of persecution that the 

Baha’i undergo in Iran. 

Ms. BAHERI. Well, it is simple. It has been nothing except wanting to practice our basic rights, to be able to be married as Baha’is, 

to be able to go to school, to be able to continue education, and all 

for the sake of really just being Baha’i and refusing to recant your 

faith. Simple. 

Mr. DEUTCH. Mr. Alizadeh, to the LGBT community in America 

who are engaged, to the leaders, help them understand the relevance of what is happening to the community in Iran. 

Mr. ALIZADEH. I just want to emphasize that the issue is not specific to LGBT community. It is a broader issue and goes back 

to——

Mr. DEUTCH. Mr. Alizadeh, I understand that, and I appreciate 

it. And my point is, it is so broad——

Mr. ALIZADEH. Right. 

Mr. DEUTCH [continuing]. That for those of us who spend a lot 

of time thinking about human rights issues and how to uphold 

human rights, and universal human rights around the world, that 

67

is how we approach it. I am trying to personalize this for people 

who may not think much about Iran, perhaps don’t think much 

about foreign policy, but absolutely understand and focus on their 

own community. 

Mr. ALIZADEH. It is as easy as this. As a person, your individuality, your privacy, is constantly being violated and scrutinized by 

the government. The government decides how much rights you 

have based on who you are, what sexual orientation or gender identity you have, even what gender you have. 

As Congressman Smith pointed out, there is a difference between 

the rights of men and women in Iran. So everything has been categorized. And depending on which category you belong to, your 

right differs. So for the LGBT community, they do not exist—as 

former President Ahmadinejad put it, they don’t exist. The official 

narrative is that they don’t exist; therefore, they have no rights. 

And so the government continues to violate the rights of LGBT 

people on the basis that this is a form of perversion. This is not 

a human behavior that can be recognized. 

And I just want to point out something else. Just last week the 

Parliament of Iran issued a formerly classified report by the Minister of Education that shows almost 20 percent of students in Iran 

have homosexual tendency. So we are talking about a sizeable portion of population whose right is being violated on a daily basis. 

Mr. DEUTCH. I appreciate that. 

Mr. Etemadi, for students in America who are engaged in politics, for civic leaders, for community leaders, people who just want 

to express themselves, can you talk about the type of persecution 

they would experience in Iran? 

Mr. ETEMADI. I want to introduce my friend, Maryam Shafipour. 

She is a student—actually, she is banned from going to university 

after Green Movement protest in 2009. And after Rouhani’s election, she was arrested by Intelligence Ministry just because she 

was active in the Presidential campaign. And she was sentenced to 

7 years jail, and since last July she is in jail, and she should be 

in jail for another 3 years. 

Maryam Shafipour is just one of my friends. Majid Tavakoli has 

been in jail since 2009. Hamid Babai has been in jail since 2009, 

and many more of my friends are in jail at the moment, and they 

will be in jail just because their peaceful political activities. 

Mr. DEUTCH. I appreciate it. Mr. Etemadi, just to finish, as I said 

before, a lot of us talk about human rights. But to look at those 

rights that are being violated, Ms. Baheri, to—for Americans to understand—America, with freedom of religion—to understand the 

type of persecution that the Baha’i—and, Dr. George, as you pointed out, other religious groups face in Iran. 

And, Mr. Alizadeh, to think that—for Americans to stop for a moment to think about what it would be like to be persecuted, to be 

subject to death, frankly, because of your sexual orientation; and, 

Mr. Etemadi, for you to help us understand, for students, for people who take views that are in opposition to the government, the 

threats, the possibility of going to jail, the persecution that they 

face, that is I think how we need to think about it here. These are 

tremendous violations of universal human rights. 

68

And, finally, to journalists who face the same thing in Iran, to 

journalists in this country, I would suggest the same thing. Think 

about what it would be like for you in Iran, and let all of us be 

guided by those notions of how our own lives could be turned upside-down because of what we believe, who we are, the way we 

voice our opinions. 

I am so grateful for your being here today to help shed light on 

that for us. It is very moving testimony that I hope moves all of 

us, not just on the committee, but as a nation. 

Mr. Chairman, I yield back. 

Mr. SMITH. Thank you very much, Mr. Deutch. 

Mr. Etemadi, thank you for underscoring the importance of 

human rights being on the table when discussions of issues of nuclear weaponry are at hand. How do you trust a totalitarian regime 

on fissile material, on enrichment issues, whether or not they have 

a bomb or plan on making bombs—it is plural, not singular—when 

they so maltreat and torture and murder their own people as well 

as three Americans who are being held unjustly. 

You know, Naghmeh Abedini testified at our hearing that we had 

here in December, and before that at a Frank Wolf hearing as part 

of the Lantos Commission, and at the Wolf hearing, shockingly, the 

administration told Naghmeh that there was ‘‘nothing we can do’’ 

to help her. Astounding. 

Thankfully, Secretary Kerry, when he heard that, did reverse 

course at the State Department. But, frankly, it still is not part of 

the negotiating. It may be somewhere on the periphery, but far off 

the periphery it would seem to me. 

Yesterday I chaired a hearing on human rights in North Korea. 

We heard from Ambassador-at-Large from the Republic of Korea, 

Ambassador Lee, who talked about a grand mobilization on behalf 

of the North Koreans who are being decimated by the newest Kim, 

Jong-un, and talked about the gulags and really just laid out how 

horrific the mistreatment really is. 

Andrew Natsios, Special Envoy to Sudan, formerly USAID Administrator and now co-chair of a North Korean human rights effort, talked about the abject failure of the nuclear talks and the 

delinking of human rights to those and how human rights had 

grossly deteriorated because they were not even on the table and 

people were not subjected to relief that they might have gotten. 

The same issue is being replayed with Iran. We have done it on 

trade issues with China. We are doing it on trade issues with Vietnam and many others. But the North Korea and the Iranian situations absolutely are appropriate parallels, and it is very, very discouraging that it is not there front and center. Again, how do you 

trust a regime that butchers its own people? 

I would say to Ms. Baheri, in 1983, I joined President Reagan at 

the White House when they had a mobilization and President 

Reagan spoke out boldly how alarmed and dismayed we were at 

the persecution of Baha’i in Iran. And he talked about the 150 men 

and women who had been hanged or shot since Khomeini had come 

in. One of those was your Dad, obviously, and my greatest sympathy, from all of us on behalf of the committee, for your enormous 

loss. 

69

Not surprisingly, just like the Chinese, they made your family 

pay for the bullets that murdered your father. Again, underscoring 

why human rights have to be front and center and not on the peripheral negotiations, if they are that. 

So thank you for being here and bearing witness. 

Dr. George, on the CPC issue, which you spoke so eloquently to 

when you were here testifying before my subcommittee just a few 

weeks ago, I think members have to realize since 2011 not a single 

CPC designation has been made. That is also Frank Wolf legislation, the International Religious Freedom Act and it called for annual designations, and frankly, like you said, wallpaper. 

We don’t have those designations and a robust enforcement, 

there are some 18 prescribed sanctions that were meant to be utilized when a country showed indifference or, worse, would double 

down and make things even worse. You talked about how things 

have gotten worse under Rouhani. Not even a designation since 

2011. 

So I make a call again to President Obama. Designate CPC countries. Do it now. And as you have recommended, there are many 

more that ought to be added to the current list, again, which are 

just languishing and there has been nothing done. We don’t even 

have an Ambassador-at-Large. 

I say to my colleagues, I chaired the hearings and marked up the 

bill for the International Religious Freedom Act in this room back 

in 1998. This is not what we envisioned, a non-enforcement of that 

very important piece of human rights legislation. 

So, Dr. George,I would like to ask you, you pointed out in your 

testimony that official policies promoting anti-Semitism have risen 

sharply in recent years, and Jews have been targeted on the basis 

of perceived ties to Israel. Could you elaborate on that? 

You point out the issue of sanctions. You know, I wrote the 

Belarus Democracy Act. We worked very closely with the Europeans on who we sanctioned in the Lukashenka regime in Minsk. 

The people on both sides that are sanctioned, it is almost the same 

people, if not identical. You point out that the European Union has 

90 people that have been sanctioned to our one, and you are encouraged that there is at least one, the Mayor of Tehran, but where 

are the others? We have the law in place to do it. Ninety to one. 

If it was a World Cup score, it would be a blowout. We need to update and add to that list. 

Mr. GEORGE. Yes, thank you, Congressman Smith. I will take a 

moment to address the particular issues that you wanted me to 

talk about. We have noticed—our staff has noticed that since 

Rouhani assumed the presidency, there has been a toning down of 

the anti-Jewish rhetoric that we had seen from government officials during the Ahmadinejad period. 

But what we haven’t seen is any corresponding diminution of the 

pressure against the Jewish community as there are still 20,000 

Jews remaining in Iran, a fraction of what was once a flourishing 

and large community there. 

So, yes, there has been a toning down of the rhetoric, but no real 

action to make things any better, any different for the Jewish community. Like all the religious minority communities in Iran, they 

are third-class citizens or worse, and always subject to harassment 

70

of all sorts. So we don’t have any good news to report beyond the 

rhetorical side for the Jewish community in Iran. 

Were you asking me particularly about the Jewish community in 

Iran? Because before your committee, of course, I talked about——

Mr. SMITH. You testified it has gotten worse. 

Mr. GEORGE [continuing]. Anti-Semitism globally. 

Mr. SMITH. But also about the sanctions regime and its——

Mr. GEORGE. Yes. We need those annual designations. We really 

do. You are right to urge the administration. We urge the administration to do that. We urge every administration—doesn’t matter 

whether it is Republican or Democrat—to make those annual designations, to call attention to the offenses, and then to use those 

sanctions that are available under the Act, which was passed by 

Congress, signed into law in the 1990s by President Clinton. They 

are there to be used. They are effective tools when they are used. 

We saw this about a decade ago when the tools were used very 

effectively against Vietnam when it was a very gross abuser of religious freedom. We saw some real benefits for persecuted religious 

people, Buddhists and Christians alike, in Vietnam. We then removed them from the CPC list to encourage the good behavior we 

had seen, to reward the progress that had been made, and, unfortunately, they slipped right back into their old patterns of behavior 

and became an abuser again. 

And so we find ourselves in 2014 recommending that Vietnam, 

for example, again be shifted over to CPC status. That is another 

designation that we would like to have made. But we need to follow 

the law here. We really need to make those designations. They 

need to be annual. We need to bring pressure on these regimes. 

Mr. SMITH. And, again, on the sanctions enforcement with regard 

to holding individual violators, like we have done with Belarus, 

Magnitsky Act, we have it now——

Mr. GEORGE. Exactly right. The tools are there in the legislation 

to put travel restrictions on people, officials who are responsible for 

the brutality and for the abuses, to freeze assets. Those tools are 

available as well. You know, make the people who are responsible 

for these human rights abuses, whether they are actually committing the abuses, or whether they are tolerating them and letting 

them occur with impunity, make them pay a cost, make them suffer a cost. 

The tools are there right in the legislation. Let us use it. 

Mr. SMITH. Again, just before I yield back, Andrew Natsios is one 

of the finest public servants I have known. Yesterday, as I said, he 

talked about North Korea and the abject failure of delinking 

human rights from the Six-Party Talks. We have delinked human 

rights from the talks on nuclear issues vis-a`-vis Iran. It is a mistake. 

My hope is it is never too late to relook at that, and I would encourage the administration, especially with the deadline coming up 

with the three Americans, but also on behalf of those Iranians who 

are suffering daily indignities and torture, to put human rights on 

the table and be bold about it, have names and lists. 

One of the things that Reagan did so excellently throughout his 

entire time when he was President, and Shultz, when he was Secretary of State, wherever they went, especially to the Soviet Union, 

71

before they met with Soviet officials, they met with the dissidents 

and they proffered a list and said, ‘‘We want progress on that, because it is linked to everything else we do.’’

Mr. CONNOLLY. Would my colleague yield for just a question on 

that? 

Mr. SMITH. Sure. 

Mr. CONNOLLY. Does my colleague agree that—because we just 

passed, as you know, the North Korean sanctions legislation. Does 

my colleague agree that there is a clear link between sanctions and 

the elevation of the issues he so eloquently has just described? 

Mr. SMITH. Well, definitely. 

Mr. CONNOLLY. I am sorry? 

Mr. SMITH. Sanctions I think, when they are judiciously applied, 

effectively—and I think targeted sanctions are the best, and I think 

our witnesses have pointed that out, you know, we don’t want to 

hurt the Iranian people. We stand with the oppressed, not the oppressor. 

Mr. CONNOLLY. Yes. I was just picking up on the North Korea 

thing. 

Mr. SMITH. Sure. 

Mr. CONNOLLY. Yes. Thank you so much. 

Mr. SMITH. Thank you. 

Thank you. And I recognize I guess—Mr. Cicilline, were you 

next, or over here? Oh, Mr. Connolly is recognized. I am sorry. 

Mr. CONNOLLY. I thank the chair, and I welcome our panel. 

Dr. George, you are on the U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom. But listening to your testimony and your answer 

to questions, I am assuming you agree that we can’t cherrypick 

which groups we advocate for or which groups we say deserve special protection. 

It is the whole panoply of human rights and human rights violations that we need to be concerned about. Would that be an accurate statement on my part? 

Mr. GEORGE. Well, I am here today——

Mr. CONNOLLY. I know. That is why I read your——

Mr. GEORGE [continuing]. On behalf of the Commission on Religious Freedom, so I am constrained by the legislative mandate that 

we have to stay within those boundary lines. So what I can talk 

about are religious freedom abuses. 

Now, very often religious freedom abuses are linked to other 

abuses, for example abuses of freedom of speech and association, 

and so forth, with respect to religious minorities. And so in those 

circumstances our Commission feels as though it is within our 

mandate to call attention to those abuses because they bear on religious freedom abuses. 

Mr. CONNOLLY. Right. 

Mr. GEORGE. But there are nine of us. We represent a range of 

viewpoints on a wide range of issues. We are united on the basic 

commitment to religious liberty. But in order to avoid anyone—any 

member of the Commission, including the chairman, speaking out 

of turn, offering his own personal opinions, which might not be 

shared by the other commissioners, we, in our capacity as commissioners, and I in my capacity as chairman, stay within the lines. 

72

Mr. CONNOLLY. Yes. But—all right. Let us stay within your rubric. Would it be advisable if the Congress and the administration 

were to decide what we are going to focus on this year is the persecution of Roman Catholics in Iran. Therefore, we are not going to 

be talking about the Baha’is or Jews or any other religious group, 

because we are pretty much focused on that one. What would that 

do to your mandate, and what do you think—what kind of message 

would that send to Iran? 

Mr. GEORGE. Well, our mandate is to advocate on behalf of the 

religious freedom rights of all people. 

Mr. CONNOLLY. Thank you. 

Mr. GEORGE. So we don’t distinguish——

Mr. CONNOLLY. Right. That is my point. We don’t cherrypick. 

And although your mandate has to do with religious freedom, you 

might take the point, by extension, that we don’t want to be cherrypicking human rights either, just as we don’t within your purview. 

Mr. GEORGE. I am sure that is true, and of course there are 

many important philosophical and political debates about the nature of rights, the contours of rights, whether such and so is in fact 

a right or is not a right. Those are disputes that you have in the 

Congress and that we have among the American people. 

Mr. CONNOLLY. How do you deal with sort of the cultural barriers? So, for example, I mean, America was founded by some pretty passionate founders who wanted to make sure that there were 

careful boundaries—in fact, Jefferson referred to them I believe as 

firewalls—between the state and religion. And some of them actually professionally cut their teeth on exactly that. 

Madison spent his early professional career in my home state of 

Virginia fighting against the established church of Virginia. He 

wanted religious liberty for other non-establishment groups, especially the Anabaptists. 

And so to what extent—to what extent is it a cultural issue? Iran 

doesn’t have that tradition. Iran is an overwhelmingly unitary denomination, and you could—one could understand—not justify, but 

one can understand, therefore, there is going to be tension when 

people are sort of outside the norm religiously. 

How do you, in your mandate, and to what extent does the 

United States, have to understand the difference between, you 

know, you are crossing a boundary that we cannot accept, and that 

is persecution and not justified, versus cultural identity that we 

have to try to respect and work with. 

Mr. GEORGE. Well, that is an excellent question, Representative 

Connolly. You are right. Iran is different from the United States 

in that we do have the separation—what we call the separation of 

church and state. That is not a phrase that exists in our constitution, but it describes the basic theory of the relationship of the institutions of religion and the institutions of government under our 

constitutional system, and especially, of course, under the First 

Amendment. They don’t have that. They don’t have that statechurch separation. 

But our state-church separation should not be interpreted to 

mean a separation of religion from public life. Religion has always 

played a very important role in our public life. George Washington, 

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tial the flourishing of any community of freedom, any political 

order that aspires to be a set of free institutions. 

John Adams said that our constitution is for a moral and religious people and will serve well no other. So we can understand 

the relationship between religion and state in other societies, including in Iran where religion is an important part of the picture, 

because religion is an important part of the picture in the United 

States. 

And we don’t see it as something separate. We don’t say Martin 

Luther King should not have spoken in terms of the Bible or the 

brotherhood of all men and attacking racial injustice and segregation. So we don’t have the Laicite system, for example, of France 

and some other European jurisdictions. We don’t treat religion as 

the enemy of politics or something that is purely private and 

should never be brought into the public square. 

Culturally, we value the role of religion in public life. 

Mr. CONNOLLY. Stipulated. 

Mr. GEORGE. So the big difference of course is, do we respect the 

right of everyone, irrespective of faith, including those who have no 

faith, those who are atheists, who are unbelievers, to follow their 

consciences precisely in matters of faith. We believe in that very 

strongly. We did from the beginning in the United States. It is 

written into our Constitution. 

Even before we had a First Amendment, our Constitution has a 

prohibition of religious tests for public offices. Anybody of any faith 

can hold any office under the United States. And we have committed ourselves, as have many other nations, including Iran, to 

international human rights standards with respect to religious 

freedom. 

So we are really simply asking Iran to live up to those standards. 

We are not saying disestablished religion. That is not our plan. We 

understand you can have a different system from ours. We are just 

saying respect the equal rights of freedom of religion for the Baha’is, for the Jewish community, for the Christian community, for 

the minority Muslim communities, whether they are Sunni or Sufi 

or whatever they are. That is really all we are asking. 

We are not trying to be cultural imperialists and impose the 

American system. We understand they have a different system. 

That is okay. We are not trying to force them into a Jeffersonian 

constitution. But we do say live up to the requirements that you 

yourselves have signed on to in international documents by respecting the religious freedom of the minorities. 

Mr. CONNOLLY. I think that is a very important statement and 

distinction. 

Mr. Chairman, if I can just ask one more question, different 

topic. Thank you, Mr. Chairman. 

Mr. Alizadeh, you said—am I pronouncing that correctly? 

Mr. ALIZADEH. Yes. Yes. 

Mr. CONNOLLY. You said, ‘‘I want to highlight LGBT persecution.’’ And I wanted to kind of come back to the theme I was asking 

Dr. George in his lane about you can’t cherrypick which denomination you are going to protect. It is the whole thing. 

I am a little concerned that sometimes some of my colleagues 

want to highlight certain human rights abuses, and never talk 

74

about others. And it seems to me that if we are going to be consistent, and we are going to hold somebody to a norm, every group 

is entitled in a society to human rights protection, whether they be 

Baha’is, whether it be women, whether they be gay and lesbian 

brothers and sisters. 

Could you talk to us a little bit about that? Because I am really 

worried that if some of our human rights advocates here in the 

Congress kind of conspicuously never talk about that, we send a 

signal unintentionally to the regime that is not a signal we want 

to send. But maybe I am wrong. What is your sense of that? 

Mr. ALIZADEH. Mr. Congressman, I just want to thank you very 

much for highlighting the cultural problems. The root of the issue 

in Iran is cultural issues, and I think that that needs to be acknowledged and highlighted. 

We talk about a region that has seen a number of rounds of regime changes and revolutions in neighboring countries, and one 

after another we see that the situation is getting worse in terms 

of the rise of minorities and respect for human rights in neighboring Iraq and Afghanistan, in Egypt, in Syria. In all of those 

countries we see that a simple regime change does not result in improvement of human rights. 

I just want to acknowledge that this is a social problem, and we 

need to deal with it as a social phenomenon. As such, we have to 

invest in the society. We just can’t hope for a regime change or the 

change of the President’s approach to fix the issues. 

But going back to your question, I want to mention that we really think that this is not about LGBT people. It is about sexual 

rights, about autonomy over your body, about the rights of individuals to decide who they want to love, and about equal rights between men and women. So this is a broader issue. We are not really talking about a specific segment of the society. 

I am very aware that when we talk about Iran we are talking 

about a society where heterosexuals don’t have rights. If you are 

walking down the street with your boyfriend, you know, as a 

woman, you can be arrested. And any form of sexual encounter outside marriage, heterosexual marriage, is a crime. 

So this is outrageous. So when we talk about LGBT issues, I 

want to emphasize that we really hope the right will be provided 

to all Iranian citizens, regardless of their sexual orientation and 

gender identity. This is about the right of individuals to decide 

what they want to do with their body, regardless of the interference of the government. The government does not have the right 

to tell people what to do in the privacy of their houses. 

People can decide what they want to do with their body and talk 

about the issues that they are interested in. And a lot of issues 

when we talk about LGBT issues are also related to general rights, 

such as right of freedom of speech, right of freedom of assembly. 

So we are not really talking about a very specific segment of the 

society or a very specific subcategory of rights. We are talking 

about the general rights that everybody in the society is entitled 

to. 

Mr. CONNOLLY. Thank you. 

Mr. Chairman, thank you for your graciousness. 

Mr. DESANTIS. No problem. The gentleman’s time has expired. 

75

The Chair now recognizes himself for a period of 5 minutes. I appreciate you guys coming. You know, I think this issue of Iran is 

very important. And I would just like to say before I ask my questions, I was really alarmed this weekend when I was hearing rumblings, not just from the administration, but from members of my 

own party, that the way to deal with what is going on in Iraq is 

to work with Iran. And I think that that has died down a little bit, 

and I think rightfully so. 

We do not have mutual interests with Iran. They are diametrically opposed, and they are a mortal enemy of the United States. 

And I think that the imposition of a Sunni Sharia state in the Levant is contrary to our national interest, but I also think we have 

to recognize Iran is a mature terror state and a mature Sharia 

state. So aligning to them would not serve our national interest. 

And I would just say, given that, I am concerned about the administration’s decision to continue to send money to this unity government with the Palestinian authority. They may have a veneer 

of technocratic leadership, but Hamas is a part of that government. 

That money is going to end up going to Hamas in one way or another, given that money is fungible. And guess who that aligns us 

with. That aligns us with Iran, because they send money and they 

fund Hamas. 

And so I am going to be working with some of my colleagues to 

stop that money while Hamas is a part of that government. And 

I think that is very important. 

Professor George, I appreciated what you said, and I think you 

described kind of our history with religious liberty and establishments very ably. But I wonder, in terms of viewing Iran—and I 

think you said, look, they are going to have their own system. 

Maybe they have an established church or whatnot, but it is more 

than just that. 

I mean, these Ayatollahs, their version, you know, how they 

want to have a Sharia society, it is much more than just religion. 

It is a whole kind of sociopolitical, totalitarian ideology. 

And so you could look at, like, the United States. Even after the 

Constitution, we had states like Connecticut that had established 

churches still, but they were not active in that way. So I guess this 

idea of Sharia being so broad seems to me to be more than just 

about whatever religion you believe in, because there are millions 

and millions of people who are Muslims who do not subscribe to 

the overall political ideology that comes with that. 

Mr. GEORGE. Yes. That is absolutely right. You can have an established religion. In the United States, we prefer not to have that. 

We disestablished our churches in the States. I think the last ones 

died out in the 1830s. But Britain has the Anglican Church. It has 

an established religion. But it is respectful of the rights of religious 

minorities. 

I lived in Britain myself for 5 years, so when I was a graduate 

student, and as a visiting scholar, I was not a member of the established church, but I was entirely free to practice my own religion. 

So we wouldn’t want to say to the British, ‘‘Well, you have an obligation under human rights to disestablish the Anglican Church.’’ 

They might for their own reasons wish——

76

Mr. DESANTIS. But that, and when you lived there, the Anglican 

Church did not permeate society to the detriment of other people, 

right? 

Mr. GEORGE. That is exactly right. 

Mr. CONNOLLY. Although they do discriminate against our Catholic people on who can be on the throne. 

Mr. GEORGE. Yes. I think that is still true. Yes, I believe that is 

still true. But you have put your finger on the real problem. It is 

not that there is an official religion as such; it is that in the name 

of this theocratic rule, a kind of totalitarianism is imposed. All dimensions of life are under control of the theocratic rulers. 

No one else’s rights are respected. No one who is not a member 

of the faith. And even those who have dissenting opinions about 

politics within the Shia faith are persecuted. I mentioned one of the 

Ayatollahs showed a picture of—I will do it again here—Ayatollah 

Boroujerdi, who himself is a Shia, but is, nevertheless, persecuted 

because he speaks out on behalf of the rights of non-Shia Muslims 

and non-Muslims. 

Mr. DESANTIS. And just to kind of flesh that out, and maybe, Mr. 

Etemadi, you can speak, so in Iran, if you convert away from 

Islam, that is a crime, correct? 

Mr. ETEMADI. Yes. 

Mr. DESANTIS. And what type of punishment could you get? You 

could potentially be put to death for that? 

Mr. ETEMADI. Yes. Exactly. 

Mr. DESANTIS. And I have been following this. I think during the 

Easter season the government raided Christian churches. That 

would be something that would be par for the course there? 

Mr. ETEMADI. Yes. 

Mr. DESANTIS. You can be convicted of a crime if you insult Islamic sensibilities, is that correct? 

Mr. ETEMADI. Yes. 

Mr. DESANTIS. And Iran still imposes severe punishments, such 

as stonings and mutilation, under their law, correct? 

Mr. ETEMADI. Yes. 

Mr. DESANTIS. And is that something that is called for by Sharia 

law, or where do they come from, these punishments? How are 

those developed? 

Mr. ETEMADI. It comes from Sharia. 

Mr. DESANTIS. Okay. 

Mr. ETEMADI. Yeah. 

Mr. DESANTIS. And it was interesting, because I was—I read 

that the Ayatollah Khamenei was speaking about freedom, and he 

says, ‘‘Iran, we have freedom unlike any other country in the 

world,’’ and then he pointed to Europe and he says, ‘‘You know, 

they talk about freedom of speech, but go ask them about the Holocaust. They are not free to deny the Holocaust.’’ Like we don’t 

know whether—he says, ‘‘We don’t know whether it existed or not.’’

And so, in his mind, he thinks that because we don’t have these 

grand debates about something that is obvious, if you study history, that somehow we don’t have freedom of speech, but I think 

what his freedom—and this is somehow, we talk past folks in the 

Middle East when we say, ‘‘Well, why wouldn’t they want FreeVerDate 0ct 09 2002 10:33 Oct 09, 2014 Jkt 000000 PO 00000 Frm 00082 Fmt 6633 Sfmt 6633 F:\WORK\_MENA\061914\88385 SHIRL
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dom?’’ Some people, such as these Ayatollahs, for them freedom is 

freedom to live under Sharia, correct? 

Mr. ETEMADI. Yes. 

Mr. DESANTIS. And so when we say ‘‘freedom,’’ they view the 

freedom differently than we do. But I think that what you guys 

have testified about his very important. I am 100 percent the people in Iran are struggling for freedom. I think the tragedy of this 

Islamic revolution is that, you know, it has really served to snuff 

out a lot of the vitality that you had seen historically throughout 

Persian society. 

And I know that there are a lot of people in Iran who are suffering under the yoke of this dictatorship, who would be like-minded with folks, not just in the United States but throughout the 

West. So I commend you guys for speaking out, and I commend the 

chairman for holding this committee. 

And with that, my time has expired, and I will recognize the gentleman from Rhode Island for a period of 5 minutes. 

Mr. CICILLINE. Thank you, Mr. Chairman. 

Thank you, again, to our witnesses for this very compelling testimony. I hope that it will cause this committee and this Congress 

to focus more energy on the issue of international human rights. 

I would like to begin with you, Mr. Alizadeh. Did I pronounce that 

correctly? 

Mr. ALIZADEH. Yes. 

Mr. CICILLINE. You didn’t even know I was talking about you it 

was so badly pronounced. [Laughter] 

I want to ask you, first, I know that the journalist who responded to former President Ahmadinejad, who made the claim 

that there were no gay or lesbian people in Iran, was imprisoned. 

And I wondered, what is the status of that individual today? Is he 

still in prison? 

Mr. ALIZADEH. Yes. There were a couple of cases that happened 

since then. So there was a journalist who used to work for the Iranian News Agency, and he had a personal blog. And basically on 

his blog he started to talk about issues including, you know, the 

existence of homosexuality in Iran. And that was later listed as one 

of the charges against him by the Revolutionary Court, and he 

ended up in jail. 

As late as last month, there was another case, a newspaper published an article. This is basically a reformist newspaper that is 

running on a daily basis in Tehran. They pushed an editorial about 

homosexuality, and the next day it was shut down by the court, because they were promoting basically homosexuality in the country. 

So any conversation about this issue is considered to be propaganda against Islam, and so it is banned basically. 

Mr. CICILLINE. Okay. And the laws, the discriminatory laws that 

criminalize homosexuality in Iran, they were renewed as recently 

as 2013, right before Rouhani became President. So what is the 

likelihood that we will see any progress or any movement on this 

issue if, as you say, the Supreme Leader is the one who sets policy? 

And, you know, is there any reason for us to be hopeful? 

And what can we do as a country to increase the likelihood that 

there will be basic human rights accorded to all individuals regardless of sexual orientation in Iran, and in other places in the world? 

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Do we have any ability to impact what is clearly a horrific, discriminatory, unsafe environment for people who are gay and lesbian? 

Mr. ALIZADEH. Congressman, I really think that the issue here 

is not the government. The government is hopeless. They are not 

really going to change. What I am really hoping, both for LGBT 

people and also for religious minorities, and about political activists, is to promote tolerance within the society. And the United 

States can play a very critical role in this game. 

I will just mention one example. We started a program about 2 

years ago to basically talk to journalists about the language that 

they use to talk about LGBT issues, that this is not a sexual issue, 

this is a human rights issue. And in 2 years you can see that society’s approach has changed. Even though the outside media are 

banned inside Iran, but people are hungry for information. They 

want a new country. They want to understand what is going on, 

because nobody believes the government propaganda. And this is a 

good thing. 

So we have a lot of resources at our disposal. We have the biggest basically broadcast operation on the planet called VOA, just, 

you know, a few miles from here. So we can really do a lot with 

our resources in order to communicate with the Iranian people, to 

teach them the values of tolerance in civil society in coexistence. 

And I think that that is the kind of long-term investment that 

we need to see in Iran and in other countries, and I am really hoping that the new generation would not buy that stereotypes and 

kind of narrow-mindedness that the government is defending as 

part of their ideology on a daily basis. 

Mr. CICILLINE. And hopefully our continuing to raise this issue 

in hearings like this and in other settings will help to advance that 

as well. 

Ms. Baheri, thank you for being here today. It was—you know, 

I am from a state that prides itself on having been founded by 

Roger Williams on the principle of religious freedom. And so the 

idea that people would be not only denied the ability to practice 

their own religious traditions, but that they would face imprisonment and execution is such an anathema to I think all Americans 

and to all civilized people in the world. And I am sorry that you 

had the experience that you did and that there are thousands and 

thousands of others who have had the same experience all over the 

world. 

And my question really is, what can we do as a country, what 

can we do as a Congress, that would have some positive impact on 

the ability of religious minorities in places like Iran to exercise 

their religious freedoms and to be able to do so without facing harassment, discrimination, and imprisonment? 

What are the—and I ask, actually, any of the panelists who have 

something to contribute. What can we do? You know, we hear this 

testimony, which I think most Americans would find horrifying and 

disturbing, and recognize that there has to be some action we can 

take, some steps we should take to respond to this, to have some 

impact. 

So I would start with you, Ms. Baheri, and anyone else who 

might——

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Ms. BAHERI. Well, as a country, I think we can definitely make 

sure that Iran is on notice that it is being watched. So anything 

the State Department has done, and will continue hopefully to do, 

would definitely be appreciated and helpful on all accounts of 

human rights, for all of people of Iran. 

Also, there is a House Resolution 109 that is in front of this committee. So if—I believe 130 Congressman have passed it so far. So 

if anyone has not, they are encouraged to do so, and that would be, 

again, a stance that Iran is being watched, and it would definitely 

be more than helpful. 

Mr. CICILLINE. Dr. George, you look like you——

Mr. GEORGE. Yes. One concrete thing to do, Congressman, is at 

the moment the Lautenberg Amendment has to be readopted every 

year. Why not go ahead and adopt it for a period of several years. 

It is a tremendous tool. It enables people who are persecuted to 

have the protection of refugee status. It enables them to transit 

through other countries to get to the United States when they are 

being persecuted. 

It would be not only substantively very valuable in terms of assisting people who are under severe persecution or threat of persecution. Symbolically, I think it would also be sending an important 

message. It is a very concrete thing Congress can do. 

Mr. CICILLINE. Thank you. 

Mr. ALIZADEH. Congressman, I just want to reiterate, in my opinion, people like Rouhani and Ahmadinejad come and go. The problem is the darkness that this regime has been promoting for three 

decades, and we have to counter it with knowledge and information 

and education. 

And I think that the Congress can play a very key role by funding resources and allow basically the societies to talk to each other, 

and people inside Iran to have access to information. The government is actually trying—the Government of Iran denies their access to free information, and I think by allowing them to learn 

about themselves, their rights, their existence, and how the international community and this—basically the West functions, I think 

we can inspire them to create a better society for themselves. 

Mr. ETEMADI. What you can do for human rights issues in Iran, 

in one word—pressure. If pressure works on the nuclear issue, it 

will work on the human rights issue. And maybe you remember 

Iranian people in—during Green Movement asked President 

Obama. ‘‘Obama, Obama, be with us, or with the government.’’ 

And, unfortunately, President Obama ignored that, and Iranian 

people have a positive view about United States. If you want to 

change this view, so ignore the human rights. 

Mr. CICILLINE. Thank you. 

I thank the chairman for the indulgence. 

Ms. ROS-LEHTINEN. Thank you. No. Thank you very much, Mr. 

Cicilline. 

Thank you to the witnesses for sharing their personal stories 

with us, their bravery and the suffering that they have endured. 

Ms. Baheri, losing family members; and, Mr. Etemadi, being in jail. 

And thank you, Mr. Alizadeh, for bringing so much awareness to 

us; and, Dr. George, for holding up the photographs of real victims 

of the persecution that is going on daily in Iran. Thank you for the 

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brave work of your Commission. We look forward to adopting their 

recommendations very soon. 

And to our audience, thanks for being here today with us. 

And, with that, the subcommittee is adjourned. 

[Whereupon, at 12:04 p.m., the subcommittee was adjourned.] 

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