IV 

118TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION H. RES. 627 

Condemning the Government of the Islamic Republic of Iran for the massacre 

of political prisoners in 1988 and the uprisings of recent years, including 

the 2018, 2019, and 2022 uprisings, and calling for justice for its 

victims. 

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 

JULY 27, 2023 

Mr. GOODEN of Texas (for himself, Mr. COHEN, Mr. BACON, Mr. RUIZ, Ms. 

MACE, Mr. BISHOP of Georgia, Mr. WEBSTER of Florida, Ms. GARCIA

of Texas, Mr. WEBER of Texas, Mr. SWALWELL, Mr. GROTHMAN, Mr. 

DAVIS of Illinois, Mr. LAMALFA, Ms. CROCKETT, Mrs. CHAVEZDEREMER, Mr. CARSON, Mr. SESSIONS, Mr. PAPPAS, Mr. ELLZEY, Ms. 

JACKSON LEE, Mr. FITZPATRICK, Mr. DUARTE, Mr. NEHLS, Mr. 

MCCLINTOCK, Mr. MOOLENAAR, Mr. WENSTRUP, Mr. MOONEY, Mr. 

BILIRAKIS, Mr. HUDSON, Mr. BABIN, Ms. MALLIOTAKIS, Mr. 

DESJARLAIS, Mr. GIMENEZ, Mr. MIKE GARCIA of California, Mr. 

SANTOS, Mr. LOUDERMILK, Mr. DAVID SCOTT of Georgia, Mr. AUSTIN

SCOTT of Georgia, and Ms. SPANBERGER) submitted the following resolution; which was referred to the Committee on Foreign Affairs 

RESOLUTION 

Condemning the Government of the Islamic Republic of Iran 

for the massacre of political prisoners in 1988 and the 

uprisings of recent years, including the 2018, 2019, and 

2022 uprisings, and calling for justice for its victims. 

Whereas, in the 115th Congress, the House of Representatives passed H.R. 4744 calling on the United States to 

‘‘condemn Iranian human rights abuses against disVerDate Sep 11 2014 02:59 Jul 28, 2023 Jkt 039200 PO 00000 Frm 00001 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6300 E:\BILLS\HR627.IH HR627

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•HRES 627 IH 

sidents, including the massacre in 1988 and the suppression of political demonstrations in 1999, 2009, and 2017, 

and pressure the Government of Iran to provide family 

members detailed information that they were denied 

about the final resting places of any missing victims of 

such abuses’’; 

Whereas H. Res. 188, ‘‘Condemning the Government of the 

Islamic Republic of Iran for the 1988 massacre of political prisoners and calling for justice for the victims’’, was 

first introduced in the 115th Congress, cosponsored by 

four former and current chairs of the Committee on Foreign Affairs of the House of Representatives; 

Whereas the massacre was carried out pursuant to a fatwa, 

or religious decree, issued by then-Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini, that targeted the People’s 

Mojahedin of Iran (PMOI), also known as the Mujahedeen-e-Khalq (MEK); 

Whereas the killings of as many as 30,000 political prisoners 

in 1988 were carried out based on the fatwa to execute 

all political prisoners who remained loyal to the Iranian 

Resistance, and subsequent death commissions were 

formed on July 19, 1988, whose members included the 

current Iranian regime’s President, Ebrahim Raisi, an official from the Ministry of Intelligence, and a state prosecutor, to implement the fatwa; 

Whereas prisoners were reportedly brought before the commissions and briefly questioned about their political affiliation, and any prisoner who refused to renounce his or 

her affiliation with groups perceived as enemies by the 

regime was then taken away for execution; 


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•HRES 627 IH 

Whereas, according to Amnesty International, ‘‘the majority 

of those killed were supporters of the MEK/PMOI’’; 

Whereas the 1988 massacre victims, many of them women, 

had been imprisoned merely for participating in peaceful 

street protests and for possessing political reading material, many of whom had already served or were currently 

serving prison sentences; 

Whereas, according to Amnesty International, ‘‘hundreds of 

members and supporters of other political groups . . . 

were also among the execution victims’’; 

Whereas later waves of executions targeted religious minorities, such as members of the Baha’i faith, many of whom 

were often subjected to brutal torture before they were 

killed; 

Whereas, in a disclosed audiotape, the late Hussein Ali 

Montazeri, a grand ayatollah who served as Khomeini’s 

chief deputy, noted the regime’s efforts to target the 

MEK and said that the 1988 mass killings were ‘‘the 

greatest crime committed during the Islamic Republic, 

for which history will condemn us’’; 

Whereas the families of the executed were denied information 

about their loved ones and were prohibited from mourning them in public; 

Whereas the November 2, 2007, report from Amnesty International concluded that ‘‘there should be no impunity for 

human rights violations, no matter where or when they 

took place. The 1988 executions should be subject to an 

independent, impartial investigation, and all those responsible should be brought to justice and receive appropriate penalties’’; 


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•HRES 627 IH 

Whereas, beginning in 2017 and continuing for several 

months after protests erupted in more than 100 cities, 

the Iranian regime suppressed such protests with repressive forces that resulted in at least 25 deaths and 4,000 

arrests, including decorated wrestling champion Navid 

Afkari, who was later executed in September 2020 

amidst international outrage; 

Whereas, on November 15, 2019, popular protests against 

the Iranian regime began and rapidly spread to at least 

100 cities throughout the country, and reports indicate 

that Iranian security forces used lethal force and about 

1,500 people were killed during less than 2 weeks of unrest, and thousands more were detained during these protests; 

Whereas, beginning in September 2022, antigovernment protests ignited in response to the death of Mahsa Amini, 

a 22-year-old Kurdish-Iranian woman who was arrested 

by the morality police that enforces Iran’s mandatory 

dress code laws; 

Whereas, in several months of continuing protests in hundreds of cities throughout Iran, the regime’s security 

forces have killed hundreds and arrested tens of thousands of protesters; 

Whereas, according to a December 9, 2022, Amnesty International report, ‘‘Iran’s security forces have killed with 

absolute impunity more than 40 children and injured 

many more in a bid to crush the spirit of resistance 

among the country’s youth and retain their iron grip on 

power at any cost’’; 

Whereas these protests are rooted in the more than four decades of organized resistance against the Iranian dictatorVerDate Sep 11 2014 02:59 Jul 28, 2023 Jkt 039200 PO 00000 Frm 00004 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6300 E:\BILLS\HR627.IH HR627

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•HRES 627 IH 

ship, which have been led by women who have endured 

torture, sexual and gender-based violence, and death; 

Whereas the Iranian people have been deprived of their fundamental freedoms for which reason they are rejecting 

monarchic dictatorship and religious tyranny, as evident 

in their protest slogans; 

Whereas, on November 24, 2022, the United Nations Human 

Rights Council established a fact-finding commission to 

conduct an independent investigation into the ongoing 

deadly violence related to the protests in Iran; 

Whereas the Iranian regime has arbitrarily and brutally suppressed ethnic and religious minorities, including Iranian 

Kurds, Baluchis, Arabs, Christians, Jews, Baha’is, 

Zoroastrians, and even Sunni Muslims, and deprived 

them of their basic human rights, and has in many cases 

executed them; 

Whereas senior Iranian Government, military, judicial, and 

security officials have for decades ordered or committed 

egregious human rights violations and acts of terror; 

Whereas the United States should be involved in any establishment of an international investigation into the 1988 

extrajudicial killings of Iranian dissidents as well as the 

murder of protesters; 

Whereas over 900 women and men of Ashraf 3 are former 

political prisoners who witnessed prison crimes of the Iranian regime, and many of them are witnesses of the 1988 

massacre and other political killings in Iran, among them 

eyewitnesses of crimes committed by Ebrahim Raisi, who 

must be fully protected for potential testimonies before 

any international courts investigating the killings in Iran; 


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•HRES 627 IH 

Whereas, in November 2021, the Swedish Judiciary moved 

the whole court in Stockholm to Albania for two weeks 

to facilitate hearing testimonies of seven former Iranian 

political prisoners now residing in Ashraf 3, who were 

considered key witnesses for a trial related to the 1988 

massacre; 

Whereas, in an April 19, 2016, letter to a European Parliament Vice-President, the Prime Minister of Albania 

wrote, ‘‘Albania is fully engaged and committed to ensure 

for the Iranian refugees all rights stipulated in the Geneva Convention 1951, in the European Human Rights 

Convention and in the whole international legislation’’; 

and 

Whereas, according to the statement issued by Secretary of 

State Antony J. Blinken on April 24, 2023, ‘‘The United 

States condemns Iran’s continued human rights abuses 

and remains committed to supporting the people of Iran 

as they face the brutality of the Iranian regime’’: Now, 

therefore, be it 

1 Resolved, That the House of Representatives— 

2 (1) condemns the Government of the Islamic 

3 Republic of Iran for the 1988 massacre and for de4 nying the evidence of this manifest set of crimes 

5 against humanity; 

6 (2) urges the Administration and the United 

7 States allies to publicly condemn the massacre and 

8 pressure the Government of Iran to provide detailed 

9 information to the families of the victims about their 

10 loved ones and their final resting places; 


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•HRES 627 IH 

1 (3) urges the Administration and the United 

2 States and its allies to put on their agenda to help 

3 the families of the victims of the Iranian regime to 

4 identify and prosecute the perpetrators of the 1988 

5 massacres and the massacres of protesters against 

6 this regime in the recent uprisings; 

7 (4) stands with the people of Iran, who are le8 gitimately defending their rights for freedom against 

9 repression and condemns the brutal killing of Ira10 nian protesters by the Iranian regime; 

11 (5) calls on the United States Government, in 

12 cooperation with our ally Albania, to ensure the full 

13 protection of the Iranian political refugees in Ashraf 

14 3 in Albania and for them to benefit from all rights 

15 stipulated in the Geneva Convention 1951 and the 

16 European Convention on Human Rights, including 

17 the right to life, liberty, and security, and protection 

18 of property, as well as freedom of expression and as19 sembly; 

20 (6) calls on the United Nations Human Rights 

21 Council to include the massacre of thousands of po22 litical prisoners in 1988 in the agenda of the fact23 finding commission for an independent investigation 

24 launched on November 24, 2022, to investigate the 

25 ongoing deadly violence against protesters; and 


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•HRES 627 IH 

1 (7) recognizes the rights of the Iranian people 

2 and their struggle to establish a democratic, secular, 

3 and nonnuclear Republic of Iran. 

Æ 


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