IV 

113TH CONGRESS 

2D SESSION H. RES. 754 

Condemning the Government of Iran for its gross human rights violations. 

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 

NOVEMBER 14, 2014 

Mr. ROYCE (for himself and Mr. ENGEL) submitted the following resolution; 

which was referred to the Committee on Foreign Affairs 

RESOLUTION 

Condemning the Government of Iran for its gross human 

rights violations. 

Whereas Iran is a member of the United Nations and a signatory to both the Universal Declaration of Human 

Rights and the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, among other international human rights treaties, without reservation; 

Whereas in violation of these and other international obligations, officials of the Government of Iran continue to perpetrate gross violations of the fundamental human rights 

of the Iranian people; 

Whereas Iranian women are increasingly subject to heinous 

acid attacks, either condoned by, or sponsored by, the 

Government of Iran, through the Basij and other vigilante groups; 


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•HRES 754 IH 

Whereas the Parliament of Iran recently enacted a law providing legal protection to private citizens to enforce a 

strict Islamic dress code and other behavior prescribed 

under Sharia law, emboldening the Basij and other vigilante groups; 

Whereas the Government of Iran ‘‘manipulates the electoral 

process’’, according to the United States Department of 

State’s Country Reports on Human Rights Practices for 

2013, ‘‘severely limit[ing] citizens’ right to change their 

government peacefully through free and fair elections’’; 

Whereas following voting irregularities that resulted in the 

election of President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, the Government of Iran brutally suppressed peaceful political dissent from wide segments of civil society during the Green 

Revolution in 2009 in a cynical attempt to retain its undemocratic grip on power; 

Whereas the Government of Iran has kept the principal leaders of the Green Revolution, Mir Hussein Moussavi and 

Mehdi Karroubi, under house arrest since February 

2011; 

Whereas the United States Department of State consistently 

finds that Iranian authorities have ‘‘limited freedom of 

association through threats, intimidation, the imposition 

of arbitrary requirements on organizations, and the arrests of group leaders and members’’; 

Whereas the United States Department of State’s Virtual 

Embassy Tehran website highlights human rights violations and abuses in Iran on a weekly basis; 

Whereas the Government of Iran continues to restrict freedom of speech and peaceful assembly, particularly for 

journalists and human rights activists; 


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•HRES 754 IH 

Whereas the United Nations Special Rapporteur on the Situation of Human Rights in the Islamic Republic of Iran 

found in its August 2014 report that the laws and policies of the Government of Iran ‘‘continue to place overly 

broad restrictions on the rights to freedom of expression 

and access to information’’, including ‘‘severe content restrictions, intimidation and prosecution of Internet users 

and limitations on Internet access through throttling and 

filtering’’; 

Whereas the ability of religious freedom and human rights 

activists to freely express themselves, and mobilize civil 

society, is actively thwarted by the Government of Iran; 

Whereas the Special Rapporteur found that the Government 

of Iran continues to apply capital punishment to offenders convicted of crimes below the international human 

rights law threshold of ‘‘most serious crimes’’; political 

prisoners; and juvenile offenders, including 8 individuals 

in 2014 believed to be less than 18 years of age at the 

time of their alleged crimes; 

Whereas Iranian women continue to face legal and societal 

discrimination, as well as rampant domestic violence, 

which is not specifically prohibited under domestic law; 

Whereas, on October 25, 2014, Iranian authorities executed 

Reyhaneh Jabbari, an Iranian woman convicted of killing 

a man she said she stabbed in self-defense during a sexual assault, an execution preceded by the lack of due 

process, including a reported forced confession; 

Whereas the United States Department of State issued a 

statement condemning Jabbari’s execution and calling on 

Iran to ‘‘respect the fair trial guarantees afforded to its 


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•HRES 754 IH 

people under Iran’s own laws and its international obligations’’; 

Whereas the United States Commission on International Religious Freedom found in its 2014 Annual Report that the 

Government of Iran ‘‘continues to engage in systematic, 

ongoing, and egregious violations of religious freedom, including prolonged detention, torture, and executions 

based primarily or entirely upon the religion of the accused’’; 

Whereas the Government of Iran persecutes such religious 

minority groups as the Baha’is, Christians, Sufi, Sunni, 

and dissenting Shi’a Muslims (such as imprisoned Ayatollah Hossein Kazemeyni Boroujerdi) through harassment, arrests, and imprisonment, during which detainees 

have routinely been beaten, tortured, and killed; 

Whereas since 1999, the United States Department of State 

has repeatedly designated Iran as a ‘‘country of particular concern’’ for severe violations of religious freedom 

pursuant to the International Religious Freedom Act of 

1998 (Public Law 105–292), most recently on July 28, 

2014; 

Whereas the Government of Iran has long persecuted with 

particular intensity the Baha’i community, the largest 

non-Muslim religious minority in Iran, who number at 

least 300,000, and are viewed as ‘‘heretics’’, and therefore are subjected to repression on the grounds of apostasy; 

Whereas according to the United States Commission on 

International Religious Freedom, since 1979, Iranian authorities have killed or executed more than 200 Baha’i 

leaders; 


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•HRES 754 IH 

Whereas ordinary Iranian citizens who belong to the Baha’i 

faith are disproportionately targeted, interrogated, and 

detained under the pretext of national security; 

Whereas senior governmental, military, and public security 

officials in Iran are responsible for ordering, controlling, 

and committing gross human rights violations that, in 

many cases, represent national policies of the Iranian regime; 

Whereas the United States Department of the Treasury, pursuant to section 413 of the Iran Threat Reduction and 

Syria Human Rights Act of 2012 (22 U.S.C. 8753), 

issued a General License in September 2013 to permit 

the exportation of services and the transfer of funds for 

activities related to human rights and democracy building 

projects in Iran, which facilitate United States nongovernmental organizations’ activities that increase Iranian access to information and freedom of expression; 

Whereas since 2010, the United States Department of the 

Treasury, in consultation with the United States Department of State, has sanctioned 19 Iranian officials and 18 

Iranian entities for their involvement or complicity in serious human rights abuses or in restricting the freedom 

of expression or assembly of the Iranian people; 

Whereas the most recent designation was for Morteza 

Tamaddom, former Governor-General of Tehran Province, designated May 23, 2014, under Executive Order 

13628 for his involvement in censorship and other activities that limit the freedom of expression and freedom of 

assembly of Iran’s citizens; 

Whereas the United States led the effort in the United Nations Human Rights Council to renew the mandate of the 


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•HRES 754 IH 

Special Rapporteur on Iran in order to further expose 

Iranian human rights abuses; and 

Whereas it is important that the President of the United 

States consistently and rigorously exercise the statutory 

authorities granted by the Comprehensive Iran Sanctions, 

Accountability, and Divestment Act of 2010 and the Iran 

Threat Reduction and Syria Human Rights Act of 2012 

to impose sanctions on officials of the Government of 

Iran and other individuals directly responsible for human 

rights abuses, engaging in censorship, or engaging in the 

diversion of goods intended for the people of Iran: Now, 

therefore, be it 

1 Resolved, That the House of Representatives— 

2 (1) calls on the Government of Iran to abide by 

3 all of its international and domestic obligations with 

4 respect to human rights and civil liberties, including 

5 freedoms of assembly, speech, and press; 

6 (2) deplores the dramatic rise in executions of 

7 Iranian citizens by authorities since the election of 

8 President Hassan Rouhani in June 2013; 

9 (3) condemns, in particular, the recent cruel 

10 execution of Reyhaneh Jabbari, an Iranian woman 

11 convicted of killing a man she said she stabbed in 

12 self-defense during a sexual assault; 

13 (4) deplores the Government of Iran’s mistreat14 ment of its religious minorities, including through 

15 the deprivation of life, liberty, and property; 


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1 (5) condemns, in particular, the Government of 

2 Iran for its relentless persecution of its Baha’i mi3 nority; 

4 (6) calls on the Government of Iran to release 

5 all political prisoners and prisoners of conscience; 

6 (7) notes that the Administration has des7 ignated only one Iranian person for the commission 

8 of serious human rights abuses under the Com9 prehensive Iran Sanctions, Accountability, and Di10 vestment Act, as amended, since May 30, 2013; 

11 (8) urges the President to increase the utiliza12 tion of all available authorities, including the Com13 prehensive Iran Sanctions, Accountability, and Di14 vestment Act of 2010, to impose sanctions on offi15 cials of the Government of Iran and other individ16 uals directly responsible for serious human rights 

17 abuses, including by freezing those individuals’ as18 sets and barring their entry into the United States; 

19 (9) urges the United States Government to 

20 adopt and implement the following recommendations 

21 of the United States Commission on International 

22 Religious Freedom with respect to Iran— 

23 (A) continue to seek that violations of free24 dom of religion or belief and related human 

25 rights are part of multilateral or bilateral disVerDate Sep 11 2014 02:29 Nov 15, 2014 Jkt 049200 PO 00000 Frm 00007 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\HR754.IH HR754

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•HRES 754 IH 

1 cussions with the Government or Iran whenever 

2 possible, and continue to work closely with Eu3 ropean and other allies to apply pressure 

4 through a combination of advocacy, diplomacy, 

5 and targeted sanctions; 

6 (B) continue to speak out publicly and fre7 quently at the highest levels about the severe 

8 religious freedom abuses in Iran, press for and 

9 work to secure the release of all prisoners of 

10 conscience, and highlight the need for the inter11 national community to hold authorities account12 able in specific cases; and 

13 (C) continue to call on Iran to cooperate 

14 fully with the United Nations Special 

15 Rapporteur on the Human Rights Situation in 

16 Iran, including allowing the Special Rapporteur, 

17 as well as the United Nations Special 

18 Rapporteur on Freedom of Religion or Belief, 

19 to visit and continue to support an annual 

20 United Nations General Assembly resolution 

21 condemning severe violations of human rights, 

22 including freedom of religion or belief in Iran 

23 and calling for officials responsible for such vio24 lations to be held accountable; 


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1 (10) condemns the undemocratic elections proc2 ess that denies Iranians the ability to freely choose 

3 their own government; and 

4 (11) stands with the people of Iran who seek 

5 the opportunity to freely elect a government of their 

6 choosing. 

Æ 


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