I 
115TH CONGRESS 
2D SESSION 
H. R. 4744 
To impose additional sanctions with respect to serious human rights abuses 
of the Government of Iran, and for other purposes. 
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 
JANUARY 9, 2018 
Mr. MCCAUL (for himself, Mr. DEUTCH, Mr. ROYCE of California, and Mr. 
ENGEL) introduced the following bill; which was referred to the Com-
mittee on Foreign Affairs, and in addition to the Committees on the Ju-
diciary, Financial Services, and Ways and Means, for a period to be sub-
sequently determined by the Speaker, in each case for consideration of 
such provisions as fall within the jurisdiction of the committee concerned 
A BILL 
To impose additional sanctions with respect to serious human 
rights abuses of the Government of Iran, and for other 
purposes. 
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa-
tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 
SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 
This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Iran Human Rights 
and Hostage-Taking Accountability Act’’. 
SEC. 2. UNITED STATES POLICY ON HUMAN RIGHTS VIOLA-
TIONS BY THE GOVERNMENT OF IRAN. 
(a) FINDINGS.—Congress finds the following: 
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(1) Iran is a member of the United Nations, 
voted for the Universal Declaration of Human 
Rights, and is a signatory to the International Cov-
enant on Civil and Political Rights, among other 
international human rights treaties. 
(2) In violation of these and other international 
obligations, Iranian regime officials continue to vio-
late the fundamental human rights of the Iranian 
people. 
(3) The Iranian regime persecutes ethnic and 
religious minority groups, such as the Baha’is, 
Christians, Sufi, Sunni, and dissenting Shi’a Mus-
lims 
(such 
as 
imprisoned 
Ayatollah 
Hossein 
Kazemeyni Boroujerdi), through harassment, ar-
rests, and imprisonment, during which detainees 
have routinely been beaten, tortured, and killed. 
(4) Following voting irregularities that resulted 
in the 2009 election of President Mahmoud 
Ahmadinejad, the Iranian regime brutally sup-
pressed peaceful political dissent from wide segments 
of civil society during the Green Revolution in a cyn-
ical attempt to retain its undemocratic grip on 
power. 
(5) Since February 2011 the leaders of Iran’s 
Green Movement, former Prime Minister Mir 
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Hossein Mousavi, his wife Dr. Zahra Rahnavard, 
and former Speaker of the Majles (parliament) 
Mehdi Karroubi, have lived under strict house ar-
rest, ordered by Iran’s Supreme National Security 
Council. 
(6) In 1999 the Iranian regime brutally sup-
pressed a student revolt that was one of the largest 
mass uprisings up until that point in the country 
since 1979. 
(7) Over a 4-month period in 1988, the Iranian 
regime carried out the barbaric mass executions of 
thousands of political prisoners. 
(8) Senior governmental, military, and public 
security officials in Iran have continued ordering, 
controlling, and committing egregious human rights 
violations that, in many cases, represent official poli-
cies of the Iranian regime. 
(b) SENSE OF CONGRESS.—It is the sense of the 
Congress that the United States should— 
(1) deny the Government of Iran the ability to 
continue to oppress the people of Iran and to use vi-
olence and executions to silence pro-democracy 
protestors; 
(2) support efforts made by the people of Iran 
to promote the establishment of basic freedoms that 
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build the foundation for the emergence of a freely 
elected, open, non-corrupt and democratic political 
system; and 
(3) help the people of Iran produce, access, and 
share information freely and safely via the internet 
and other media. 
(c) STATEMENT OF POLICY.—It shall be the policy 
of the United States to stand with the people of Iran who 
seek the opportunity to freely elect a government of their 
choosing, and increase the utilization of all available au-
thorities to impose sanctions on officials of the Govern-
ment of Iran and other individuals responsible for serious 
human rights abuses. 
SEC. 3. DETERMINATIONS WITH RESPECT TO IMPOSITION 
OF SANCTIONS ON CERTAIN PERSONS RE-
SPONSIBLE FOR OR COMPLICIT IN HUMAN 
RIGHTS ABUSES, ENGAGING IN CENSORSHIP, 
ENGAGING IN THE DIVERSION OF GOODS IN-
TENDED FOR THE PEOPLE OF IRAN, OR EN-
GAGING IN CORRUPTION. 
(a) IN GENERAL.—Not later than 270 days after the 
date of the enactment of this Act, and annually thereafter 
(or more frequently if the President determines it appro-
priate based on new information received by the Presi-
dent) for the following 4 years, the President shall submit 
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to the appropriate congressional committees a report con-
taining a determination of whether any senior officials of 
the Government of Iran or other Iranian persons meet the 
criteria described in— 
(1) section 105(b), 105A(b), 105B(b), or 
105C(b) of the Comprehensive Iran Sanctions, Ac-
countability, and Divestment Act of 2010 (22 U.S.C. 
8514(b), 8514a(b), 8514b(b), or 8514c(b)), or sub-
section (b) of section 105D of such Act (as added 
by section 5 of this Act); or 
(2) paragraph (3) or (4) of section 1263(a) of 
the National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal 
Year 2017 (Public Law 114–328; 22 U.S.C. 2656 
note). 
(b) FORM OF REPORT; PUBLIC AVAILABILITY.— 
(1) FORM.—The report required under sub-
section (a) shall be submitted in unclassified form, 
but may contain a classified annex. 
(2) PUBLIC
AVAILABILITY.—The unclassified 
portion of such report shall be made available to the 
public and posted on the internet website of the De-
partment of the Treasury— 
(A) in English, Farsi, Arabic, and Azeri; 
and 
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(B) in precompressed, easily downloadable 
versions that are made available in all appro-
priate formats. 
(c) SOURCES OF INFORMATION.—In preparing the 
report required under subsection (a), the President may 
utilize any credible publication, database, web-based re-
source, and any credible information compiled by any gov-
ernment agency, nongovernmental organization, or other 
entity provided to or made available to the President. 
(d) DEFINITION.—In this section, the term ‘‘appro-
priate congressional committees’’ means— 
(1) the Committee on Financial Services and 
the Committee on Foreign Affairs of the House of 
Representatives; and 
(2) the Committee on Banking, Housing, and 
Urban Affairs and the Committee on Foreign Rela-
tions of the Senate. 
SEC. 4. UNITED STATES POLICY ON HOSTAGE-TAKING BY 
THE GOVERNMENT OF IRAN. 
(a) FINDINGS.—Congress finds the following: 
(1) Since 1979 the Iranian regime has engaged 
in various destabilizing activities that undermine the 
national security of the United States and its allies 
and partners. 
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(2) These activities include the hostage-taking 
or prolonged arbitrary detentions of United States 
citizens and other persons with connections to Can-
ada, the United Kingdom, France, and other nations 
allied with the United States. 
(3) The Iranian regime has detained on fab-
ricated claims a significant number of United States 
citizens, including Siamak and Baquer Namazi and 
Xiyue Wang, as well as United States legal perma-
nent resident, Nizar Zakka, in violation of inter-
national legal norms. 
(4) The Iranian regime has not provided infor-
mation on the whereabouts of or assistance in ensur-
ing the prompt and safe return of Robert Levinson, 
despite repeated promises to do so, after he was kid-
napped while visiting Iran’s Kish Island on March 9, 
2007—making him the longest held hostage in 
United States history. 
(5) The Iranian regime reportedly uses hostages 
as leverage against foreign investors to exact busi-
ness concessions in foreign investment deals. 
(6) The type of hostage-taking enterprise put in 
place by the Iranian regime is a crime against hu-
manity and a violation of customary international 
law. 
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(b) SENSE OF CONGRESS.—It is the sense of the 
Congress that— 
(1) the Administration should fully utilize all 
necessary and appropriate measures to prevent the 
Iranian regime from engaging in hostage-taking or 
the prolonged arbitrary detention of United States 
citizens or legal permanent resident aliens, to in-
clude— 
(A) the use of extradition to try and con-
vict those individuals responsible for ordering or 
controlling the hostage-taking or arbitrary de-
tention of United States citizens; and 
(B) the use of the Department of Home-
land Security’s Human Rights Violators and 
War Crimes Center to target such individuals; 
and 
(2) the United States should encourage its al-
lies and other affected countries to pursue the crimi-
nal prosecution and extradition of state and non- 
state actors in Iran that assist in or benefit from 
such hostage-taking to prevent such state and non- 
state actors from engaging in this practice in the fu-
ture. 
(c) STATEMENT OF POLICY.—It shall be the policy 
of the United States Government not to pay ransom or 
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