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[Congressional Bills 118th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[S. Res. 74 Agreed to Senate (ATS)]

<DOC>

118th CONGRESS
  2d Session
S. RES. 74

Condemning the Government of Iran's state-sponsored persecution of the 
   Baha'i minority and its continued violation of the International 
                       Covenants on Human Rights.

_______________________________________________________________________

                   IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES

                           February 16, 2023

    Mr. Wyden (for himself, Mr. Rubio, Mr. Durbin, Mr. Boozman, Mr. 
Whitehouse, Mrs. Feinstein, Mr. Kelly, Mr. Hickenlooper, Ms. Rosen, Ms. 
Hirono, Ms. Sinema, Mr. Cardin, Mrs. Shaheen, Mr. Warnock, Ms. Hassan, 
  Mr. Murphy, Mr. Merkley, Mr. Blumenthal, Mr. Kaine, Mr. Coons, Mr. 
   Welch, Mr. Braun, Mrs. Capito, Mr. Van Hollen, Mrs. Fischer, Ms. 
   Collins, Ms. Baldwin, Ms. Warren, Mr. Padilla, Mr. Lankford, Mrs. 
Gillibrand, Mr. Booker, Mr. Ossoff, Mr. Hoeven, Ms. Butler, Ms. Cortez 
  Masto, Mr. Crapo, and Mr. Reed) submitted the following resolution; 
        which was referred to the Committee on Foreign Relations

                            December 5, 2024

Committee discharged; considered and agreed to with an amended preamble

_______________________________________________________________________

                               RESOLUTION

 
Condemning the Government of Iran's state-sponsored persecution of the 
   Baha'i minority and its continued violation of the International 
                       Covenants on Human Rights.

Whereas, in 1982, 1984, 1988, 1990, 1992, 1993, 1994, 1996, 2000, 2004, 2006, 
        2008, 2009, 2012, 2013, 2015, 2016, 2017, 2018, 2020, and 2022, Congress 
        declared that it deplored the religious persecution by the Government of 
        Iran of the Baha'i community and would hold the Government of Iran 
        responsible for upholding the rights of all Iranian nationals, including 
        members of the Baha'i faith;
Whereas, since 1979, Iranian authorities have killed or executed more than 200 
        Baha'i leaders and more than 10,000 Baha'is have been dismissed from 
        government and university jobs;
Whereas June 18, 2023, marked the 40th anniversary of the execution of 10 Baha'i 
        women by the Government of Iran, each witnessing the hanging of those 
        hanged before her in a final failed attempt to induce abandonment of 
        their faith after over 6 months of imprisonment and violent abuse, with 
        the youngest only 17 years old;
Whereas, on December 19, 2023, the United Nations General Assembly adopted a 
        resolution (A/C.3/78/L.41) calling on Iran to carry out wide-ranging 
        reforms and expressing serious concerns for its escalating human rights 
        abuses, including--

    (1) ``severe limitations and increasing restrictions on the right to 
freedom of thought, conscience, religion, or belief'';

    (2) ``restrictions on the establishment of places of worship, undue 
restrictions on burials carried out in accordance with religious tenets, 
attacks against places of worship and burial'';

    (3) ``increased harassment, intimidation, persecution, arbitrary 
arrest, and detention of, and incitement to hatred that leads to violence 
against, persons belonging to recognized and unrecognized religious 
minorities, including Christians (particularly converts from Islam), 
Gonabadi Dervishes, Jews, Sufi Muslims, Sunni Muslims, Yarsanis, 
Zoroastrians, and in particular, Baha'is'';

    (4) ``denial of and restrictions on access to education, including for 
members of the Baha'i faith''; and

    (5) ``particular'' persecution of members of the Baha'i community ``who 
have been subjected to a continued increase in persecution, including 
attacks, harassment and targeting . . . on account of their faith and have 
been reportedly subjected to mass arrests and lengthy prison sentences, as 
well as the arrest of prominent members and increased confiscation and 
destruction of property'';

Whereas, in the 2024 Annual Report of the United States Commission on 
        International Religious Freedom issued in May 2024, it is reported that 
        in 2023--

    (1) the Government of Iran ``conducted individual and mass arrests of 
Baha'is across Iran taking them to undisclosed locations and imposing 
excessively long prison sentences'';

    (2) ``security officials beat and brutalized Baha'is during raids and 
searches of private homes'';

    (3) ``security forces arrested scores of Baha'is in cities including 
Hamadan, Mehrshahr, Yazd, Karaj, Alborz, and Tehran'';

    (4) the ``government has targeted Baha'i women in particular'' and that 
``[a]pproximately two-thirds of Iranian Baha'i prisoners are women'';

    (5) authorities ``targeted Baha'i cemeteries in Arak, Alborz, and 
Golestan''; and

    (6) local ``municipalities seized and confiscated Baha'i land, 
restricted Baha'i access to burial grounds, and declared intentions to sell 
Baha'i-owned property exclusively to Muslims.'';

Whereas the Iran section of the Department of State's 2022 Report on 
        International Religious Freedom issued in May 2023 provides, in part--

    (1) ``[I]n July and August, security forces in cities across the 
country conducted multiple raids of Baha'i homes, confiscated property 
deemed `illegitimate wealth', and arrested Baha'is in their homes or 
workplaces on unsubstantiated charges including `causing intellectual and 
ideological insecurity in Muslim society.''';

    (2) ``Authorities reportedly continued to deny members of unrecognized 
religious minority groups access to education and government employment 
unless they declared themselves as belonging to one of the country's 
recognized religions on their application forms. UN experts reported 
universities rejected more than 90 Baha'i students between January and 
August.''; and

    (3) ``Government officials and government-affiliated organizations 
continued to disseminate anti-Baha'i and antisemitic messages using 
traditional and social media.'';

Whereas, in response to a surge in persecution in June and July 2022, involving 
        the subjection of over 100 Baha'is to arrests, arraignments, sentencing, 
        and raids on their homes and businesses across Iran, including the 
        sentencing in June of 26 individuals in the city of Shiraz to a combined 
        total of 85 years in prison, the Department of State's Office of 
        International Religious Freedom issued a statement on August 2, 2022, 
        indicating that ``[a]mid a continued rise in arrests, sentences, and 
        imprisonments, the U.S. urges Iran to halt its ongoing oppression of the 
        Baha'i community and honor its international obligations to respect the 
        right of all Iranians to freedom of religion or belief'';
Whereas, on November 21, 2022, Mahvash Sabet and Fariba Kamalabadi, 2 former 
        members of the informal 7-person leadership group of the Baha'is of 
        Iran, who each served 10-year sentences from 2008 to 2018, and have been 
        detained since July 31, 2022, in Evin prison, were sentenced to 10 years 
        in prison each after a summary trial lasting 1 hour;
Whereas, on December 11, 2022, the Baha'i International Community organization 
        stated that ``Dr. Shirin Ebadi, the Nobel laureate and defence lawyer 
        for Mahvash and Fariba during their first trial, said in 2008 that `not 
        a shred of evidence' was offered to prove the national security charges 
        or other allegations. Nor was any new evidence forthcoming at this 
        latest trial'';
Whereas, on January 12, 2024, the Baha'i International Community organization 
        reported increasing incidents of persecution accompanied by intensified 
        violence perpetrated against the Baha'i community by the Government of 
        Iran, for example--

    (1) ``since the beginning of October [2023] more than 200 incidents of 
persecution, including over 50 arrests and imprisonments, have occurred in 
various cities such as Shiraz, Yazd, Isfahan, Hamadan, and Karaj'';

    (2) government agents have perpetrated ``increasingly violent home 
raids, disproportionately affecting women and the elderly, and have even 
resulted in hospitalizations and traumatic separations of mothers from 
their children. Notably, over two-thirds of those arrested and detained 
have been women, predominantly in their twenties and thirties, highlighting 
the escalation of attacks against women in recent months.''; and

    (3) government agents have instigated a ``conspicuous rise in hate 
speech, where Baha'is have been accused of being behind the September 2022 
protests, promoting permissiveness, being against Islam and Shiism, being 
spies for Israel and the West, and being part of a political movement that 
seeks to undermine the state'';

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 section 105 of the Comprehensive Iran Sanctions, Accountability, and 
        Divestment Act of 2010 (22 U.S.C. 8514) authorizes the President to 
        impose sanctions on individuals who are ``responsible for or complicit 
        in, or responsible for ordering, controlling, or otherwise directing, 
        the commission of serious human rights abuses against citizens of Iran 
        or their family members on or after June 12, 2009''; and
Whereas the Iran Threat Reduction and Syria Human Rights Act of 2012 (Public Law 
        112-158) amends and expands the authorities established under the 
        Comprehensive Iran Sanctions, Accountability, and Divestment Act of 2010 
        (Public Law 111-195) to sanction Iranian human rights abusers: Now, 
        therefore, be it
    Resolved, That the Senate--
            (1) condemns the Government of Iran's state-sponsored 
        persecution of the Baha'i minority in Iran and the continued 
        violation of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and the 
        International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights;
            (2) calls on the Government of Iran--
                    (A) to immediately release the imprisoned or 
                detained Baha'is and all other prisoners held solely on 
                account of their religion;
                    (B) to end its state-sponsored campaign of hate 
                propaganda against the Baha'is; and
                    (C) to reverse state-imposed policies denying 
                Baha'is and members of other religious minorities equal 
                opportunities to higher education, earning a 
                livelihood, due process under the law, and the free 
                exercise of religious practices;
            (3) calls on the President and the Secretary of State, in 
        cooperation with responsible nations, to immediately condemn 
        the Government of Iran's continued violation of human rights, 
        and demand the immediate release of prisoners held solely on 
        account of their religion; and
            (4) urges the President and the Secretary of State to 
        utilize available authorities to impose sanctions on officials 
        of the Government of Iran and other individuals directly 
        responsible for serious human rights abuses, including abuses 
        against the Baha'i community of Iran.
                                 <all>
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