III 

115TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION S. RES. 245 

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 

AUGUST 3, 2017 

Mr. CRUZ (for himself, Mr. LEAHY, Mr. BOOKER, Mr. MENENDEZ, Mr. 

YOUNG, Mr. GARDNER, Mr. COTTON, Mr. RUBIO, Mr. PERDUE, and Mr. 

NELSON) submitted the following resolution; which was referred to the 

Committee on Foreign Relations 

OCTOBER 16, 2017 

Reported by Mr. CORKER, without amendment 

OCTOBER 31, 2017 

Considered and agreed to 

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 Namazi, Baquer Namazi, and Xiyue 

Wang, 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 


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

held for extended periods in solitary confinement and 

subjected to prolonged interrogation; 

Whereas former United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) 

official Baquer Namazi, the 80-year-old father of Siamak 

Namazi, was detained on February 22, 2016, falsely 

charged and sentenced 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 is deteriorating, so his family can 

care for him; 

Whereas UNICEF has issued 4 public statements on Baquer 

Namazi’s behalf; 

Whereas Xiyue Wang, a graduate student at Princeton University, was arrested in Iran on or about August 7, 2016, 

while studying Farsi and researching the late Qajar dynasty as background for his doctoral dissertation, detained by Iran in Evin prison for almost a year, falsely 

charged with espionage, and sentenced to 10 years in 

prison; 

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 former 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 poor 


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health, was unlawfully detained around September 18, 

2015, after speaking 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 former 

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 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’’; and 

Whereas reports indicate that the Government of Iran has 

sought to condition the release of imprisoned nationals 

and dual-nationals on receipt of economic or political concessions, 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 acceded to by the Government of Iran on 

November 20, 2006, and other international legal norms: 

Now, therefore, be it 

1 Resolved, That the Senate— 


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1 (1) calls on the Government of Iran to release 

2 Siamak Namazi, Baquer Namazi, Xiyue Wang, 

3 Nizar Zakka, and any other United States citizen, 

4 legal permanent resident alien, or foreign national 

5 being unjustly detained in Iran; 

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

7 United States citizens and legal permanent resident 

8 aliens held hostage by the Government of Iran the 

9 highest of priorities; 

10 (3) requests that the United States and its al11 lies whose nationals and residents have been de12 tained consider establishing a multinational task 

13 force to work to secure the release of the detainees; 

14 (4) urges the Government of Iran to take mean15 ingful steps toward fulfilling its repeated promises to 

16 assist in locating and returning Robert Levinson, in17 cluding immediately providing all available informa18 tion from all entities of the Government of Iran re19 garding the disappearance of Robert Levinson to the 

20 United States Government; 

21 (5) urges the President to take whatever steps 

22 are in the national interest to secure the release of 

23 Siamak Namazi, Baquer Namazi, Xiyue Wang, 

24 Nizar Zakka, and any other United States citizen, 


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1 legal permanent resident alien, or foreign national 

2 being unjustly detained in Iran; and 

3 (6) urges the President to take whatever steps 

4 are in the national interest to determine the where5 abouts and secure the return of Robert Levinson. 

Æ 


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