III 

117TH CONGRESS 

2D SESSION S. CON. RES. 47 

Commending the bravery, courage, and resolve of the women and men of 

Iran demonstrating in more than 80 cities and risking their safety 

to speak out against the Iranian regime’s human rights abuses. 

IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES 

SEPTEMBER 29, 2022 

Mr. MENENDEZ (for himself, Mrs. BLACKBURN, Mr. CASEY, Mr. CASSIDY, 

Ms. ROSEN, Mr. CRUZ, and Mr. CRAMER) submitted the following concurrent resolution; which was referred to the Committee on Foreign Relations 

CONCURRENT RESOLUTION 

Commending the bravery, courage, and resolve of the women 

and men of Iran demonstrating in more than 80 cities 

and risking their safety to speak out against the Iranian 

regime’s human rights abuses. 

Whereas, on September 16, 2022, 22-year-old Mahsa Amini 

passed away in the custody of Iranian ‘‘morality police’’ 

following a 3-day coma due to wounds, including bone 

fracture, hemorrhage, and cerebral edema consistent with 

severe beating, inflicted by the police for purportedly 

wearing a hijab improperly; 

Whereas, on September 17, Iranians gathered in the streets 

of Tehran to protest the killing of Mahsa Amini; 


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•SCON 47 IS 

Whereas demonstrations have since spread to more than 80 

cities and 20 universities in Iran, where women are removing or burning hijabs, cutting their hair, and dancing 

in front of Iranian security forces, joined by their fellow 

Iranian citizens; 

Whereas Iranian security forces have responded to such demonstrations with violence and detentions, including detentions of journalists and activists for covering the protests; 

Whereas the security forces have killed a reported 76 

protestors, including at least 4 children; however, the 

number of injuries and deaths is likely higher but 

unobtainable due to internet blackouts; 

Whereas at least 1,200 Iranians have been arrested across 

Iran according to official sources, and many thousands 

more have been detained according to independent reports; 

Whereas videos, images, and demonstrations have spread to 

social media platforms and are an important way for the 

voices of the Iranian people to be heard; 

Whereas internet monitoring groups have reported that the 

Iranian regime has— 

(1) caused near-total disruption of internet 

connectivity in parts of Iran and partial disruptions in 

city centers; and 

(2) blocked WhatsApp, Twitter, Telegram, 

Facebook, Instagram, and video games with chat functions; 

Whereas common protest chants include— 

(1) ‘‘Women, life, and freedom!’’; 

(2) ‘‘Iranians die but will not be suppressed!’’; and 


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•SCON 47 IS 

(3) ‘‘Death to the dictator Ayatollah Ali 

Khamenei!’’; 

Whereas the Iranian regime has a long history of structural 

and legal discrimination against women, including barriers for women seeking justice against domestic violence 

and criminal prohibitions against women singing or showing hair in public and studying certain technical subjects; 

Whereas the Iranian regime approved of ‘‘depriving one social 

right or more’’ for any woman who posts an unveiled picture of herself on social media, and, in August 2022, approved of enforcing mandatory hijab laws through facial 

recognition; 

Whereas, through misogynistic criminal statutes, the Iranian 

regime for decades has detained and engaged in the ongoing persecution of women, including— 

(1) Saba Kord Afshari, who was sentenced to 15 

years in prison for posting videos to social media without 

a hijab and transferred into Ward 6 of the notorious 

Qarchak Women’s Prison, identified by the Secretary of 

the Treasury for gross violations of human rights; 

(2) Raheleh Ahmadi, mother of Afshari, who was 

sentenced to 2 years in prison for advocacy on behalf of 

Afshari; 

(3) Yasaman Aryani, her mother Monireh 

Arabshahi, and Mojgan Keshavarz, who were sentenced 

to between 16 and 23 years in prison for posting a video 

for International Women’s Day in 2019, during which 

they walked without headscarves through a metro train 

in Tehran, handing flowers to female passengers; 

(4) human rights attorney Nasrin Sotoudeh, who 

was sentenced in 2019 to 38 years in prison and 148 


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•SCON 47 IS 

lashes for providing legal defense services to women 

charged with not wearing a hijab; 

(5) Narges Mohammadi, a prominent rights advocate, who— 

(A) was arrested in November 2019 on the second anniversary of countrywide protests and is currently serving a 2-year sentence in prison; and 

(B) previously, had been sentenced to 10 years 

in prison in May 2015 for ‘‘establishing an illegal 

group’’, ‘‘assembly and collusion to act against national security’’, and ‘‘propaganda against the 

state’’; 

(6) former Vice President for Women and Family 

Affairs Shahindokht Molaverdi, who was charged with encouraging ‘‘corruption, prostitution, and sexual deviance’’, a common charge against women refusing mandatory hijab laws, and sentenced in December 2020 to 30 

months in prison for defending the right of women to attend sporting events and criticizing the practice of child 

marriage; 

(7) six women who were sentenced by the Culture 

and Media Court of Tehran in July 2022 to each serve 

1 year in prison for the offense of singing songs in public; 

(8) Niloufar Hamedi, one of the first Iranian journalists to report on Mahsa Amini’s death, who was arrested on September 22, 2022, and is being held in solitary confinement; and 

(9) countless other women; and 

Whereas peaceful protests in Iran over the last year have focused on grievances that include— 

(1) mismanagement of the economy and national resources; 


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•SCON 47 IS 

(2) prioritization of funding for terror groups and 

pariah regimes over social services for the people of Iran; 

and 

(3) widespread political corruption: Now, therefore, 

be it 

1 Resolved by the Senate (the House of Representatives 

2 concurring), That Congress— 

3 (1) commends the bravery, courage, and resolve 

4 of the women and men of Iran who are— 

5 (A) participating in the current protests to 

6 defend their fundamental human rights; and 

7 (B) risking their safety to speak out 

8 against the human rights abuses committed by 

9 the Iranian regime; 

10 (2) condemns— 

11 (A) the brutal beating and death of Mahsa 

12 Amini; and 

13 (B) the violent suppression by the Iranian 

14 regime of women and men participating in the 

15 current demonstrations, including children, and 

16 calls for transparent accountability for all 

17 killings of protesters by Iranian security forces; 

18 (3) supports internet freedom programs that 

19 circumvent the regime, including the Open Tech20 nology Fund, which provides support for VPNs and 

21 other alternatives that can be used to bypass atVerDate Sep 11 2014 05:58 Sep 30, 2022 Jkt 029200 PO 00000 Frm 00005 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\SC47.IS SC47

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•SCON 47 IS 

1 tempts by authoritarian governments to censor inter2 net access during times of protest, and commends 

3 private entities willing to provide programs to cir4 cumvent such censorship; 

5 (4) encourages continued efforts by the Biden 

6 Administration to respond to the protests, including 

7 the recent sanctioning of the Iranian morality police, 

8 and further encourages the Biden Administration— 

9 (A) to immediately impose, under existing 

10 authorities, additional human rights sanctions 

11 on officials and entities responsible for the re12 pression of the current protests; 

13 (B) to prioritize efforts to expand unre14 stricted internet access in Iran, consistent with 

15 existing law; and 

16 (C) to work to develop a strategy to pre17 vent the Iranian regime from obtaining and ex18 ploiting facial recognition data and software for 

19 the use of mass surveillance and enforcement of 

20 mandatory hijab; 

21 (5) encourages the private sector, following the 

22 recent clarification by the Biden Administration of 

23 sanctions exemptions on communications technology, 

24 to work with the Biden Administration to ensure 

25 protestors and activists have access to tools needed 


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1 to circumvent government surveillance and repres2 sion; and 

3 (6) welcomes the efforts of the international 

4 community to support protestors in Iran, and calls 

5 on the international community— 

6 (A) to publicly condemn violence by the 

7 Iranian regime against peaceful protesters; 

8 (B) to speak out against violations by the 

9 regime of fundamental human rights, including 

10 the freedom of expression, assembly, and re11 dress of grievances of the Iranian people; and 

12 (C) impose human rights sanctions on offi13 cials and entities that are responsible for the re14 pression of current protests and involved in vio15 lating the human rights of the Iranian people. 

Æ 


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