III 

115TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION S. RES. 216 

Calling on the Government of Iran to release unjustly detained United States 

citizens and legal permanent resident aliens, and for other purposes. 

IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES 

JULY 10, 2017 

Mr. CRUZ submitted the following resolution; which was referred to the 

Committee on Foreign Relations 

RESOLUTION 

Calling on the Government of Iran to release unjustly detained United States citizens and legal permanent resident aliens, and for other purposes. 

Whereas the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) of 

Iran has taken as hostages several United States citizens, 

including Siamak and Baquer Namazi, as well as United 

States legal permanent resident alien Nizar Zakka; 

Whereas Siamak Namazi was detained on October 15, 2015, 

falsely accused and convicted on October 18, 2016, for 

‘‘collaborating with a hostile government,’’ and has been 

held for extended periods in solitary confinement and 

under constant interrogation; 

Whereas former United Nations Children’s Emergency Fund 

(UNICEF) official Baquer Namazi, the 80-year old father of Siamak Namazi, was detained on February 22, 


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•SRES 216 IS 

2016, falsely accused and convicted to 10 years in prison 

for the identical crime as his son; 

Whereas former Secretary-General of the United Nations 

Ban Ki-moon urged authorities in Iran to release Baquer 

Namazi, whose health status is deteriorating, to allow his 

family to care for him; 

Whereas the United Nations Children’s Emergency Fund 

(UNICEF) has issued 4 public statements on Baquer 

Namazi’s behalf; 

Whereas Robert Levinson, a United States citizen and retired 

agent of the Federal Bureau of Investigation, traveled to 

Kish Island, Iran, and disappeared on March 9, 2007; 

Whereas, according to White House Press Secretary Josh 

Earnest, the United States Government had ‘‘secured a 

commitment from the Iranians . . . to try and gather information about Mr. Levinson’s possible whereabouts’’ 

but has not received any information thus far; 

Whereas Nizar Zakka, a United States legal permanent resident alien and Lebanese national, who is also in a weakened physical state, was unlawfully detained around September 18, 2015, after presenting at a conference in Iran 

at the invitation of Iran, and was later falsely charged 

with being a spy and sentenced to 10 years at the Evin 

prison in Iran; 

Whereas, on April 13, 2017, the United States Department 

of the Treasury sanctioned the Tehran Prisons Organization and its former head, Sohrab Soleimani, and White 

House Press Secretary Sean Spicer noted that ‘‘[t]he 

sanctions against human rights abusers in Iran’s prisons 

come at a time when Iran continues to unjustly detain 


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•SRES 216 IS 

in its prisons various foreigners, including U.S. citizens 

Siamak Namazi and Baquer Namazi’’; 

Whereas, on April 25, 2017, at the meeting of the Joint 

Commission overseeing implementation of the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action, the Department of State reported that the United States delegation had ‘‘raised with 

the Iranian delegation its serious concerns regarding the 

cases of U.S. citizens detained and missing in Iran, and 

called on Iran to immediately release these U.S. citizens 

so they can be reunited with their families’’; 

Whereas elements of the Iranian regime are reportedly using 

nationals and dual-nationals from the United States, 

Canada, the United Kingdom, France, Germany, and 

other countries to exact political or financial concessions; 

and 

Whereas reports indicate that the Government of Iran is 

seeking additional payments or other concessions, including relief from economic sanctions, from the families and 

governments of hostages as a condition of release, which 

is a practice banned by the International Convention 

Against the Taking of Hostages, adopted by the General 

Assembly of the United Nations on December 17, 1979, 

and other international legal norms: Now, therefore, be 

it 

1 Resolved, That the Senate— 

2 (1) calls on the Government of the Islamic Re3 public of Iran to release unconditionally Siamak 

4 Namazi, Baquer Namazi, Nizar Zakka, and any 

5 other United States citizen, legal permanent resident 


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1 alien, or foreign national being unjustly detained in 

2 Iran; 

3 (2) urges the President to make the release of 

4 United States citizens and legal permanent resident 

5 aliens held hostage by the Government of Iran the 

6 highest of priorities; 

7 (3) requests that the United States and its al8 lies whose nationals have been detained consider es9 tablishing a multinational task force to secure the 

10 release of the detainees; 

11 (4) urges the Government of Iran to take mean12 ingful steps toward fulfilling its repeated promises to 

13 assist in locating and returning Robert Levinson, in14 cluding immediately providing all available informa15 tion from all entities of the Government of Iran re16 garding the disappearance of Robert Levinson to the 

17 United States Government; 

18 (5) encourages the President to take meaning19 ful action to secure the release of Siamak Namazi, 

20 Baquer Namazi, Nizar Zakka, and any other United 

21 States citizen, legal permanent resident alien, or for22 eign national being unjustly detained in Iran if the 

23 Government of Iran does not release such United 

24 States citizens, legal permanent resident aliens, and 

25 foreign nationals; and 


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•SRES 216 IS 

1 (6) encourages the President to take meaning2 ful action to secure the return of Robert Levinson 

3 if the Government of Iran does not locate and return 

4 him. 

Æ 


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