IV 
113TH CONGRESS 
1ST SESSION 
H. RES. 106 
Calling for the protection of religious minority rights and freedoms in the 
Arab world. 
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 
MARCH 12, 2013 
Mr. BRIDENSTINE submitted the following resolution; which was referred to 
the Committee on Foreign Affairs 
RESOLUTION 
Calling for the protection of religious minority rights and 
freedoms in the Arab world. 
Whereas, on January 25, 2011, in Tahrir Square, Egyptian 
protestors found their voice when they successfully ended 
the 30-plus year rule of President Mubarak and began 
the work of creating a true democratic government, a 
government that supports and protects inalienable rights 
and freedoms, including the freedom of religion; 
Whereas the fervor and spirit of these revolutions have taken 
wing in other Arab nations such as Tunisia, Libya, and 
Syria; 
Whereas, reminiscent of the 1968 ‘‘Prague Spring’’ in the 
former Czechoslovakia, many have called this revolu-
tionary period an ‘‘Arab Spring’’, where ordinary citizens 
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•HRES 106 IH 
have taken to the streets demanding an end to corrup-
tion, political cronyism, and government repression; 
Whereas, in the midst of newly acquired freedoms, including 
those of speech, press, and assembly, it is extremely im-
portant that religious minorities in these countries be 
protected from violence and guaranteed the freedom to 
practice their religion and to express religious thought; 
Whereas Article 18 of the Universal Declaration of Human 
Rights recognizes that ‘‘[e]veryone has the right to free-
dom of thought, conscience, and religion; this right in-
cludes freedom to change his religion or belief, and free-
dom, either alone or in community with others and in 
public or private, to manifest his religion or belief in 
teaching, practice, worship, and observance’’; 
Whereas the freedom to worship by minority religious com-
munities in Arab nations has come under repeated and 
deadly attack in recent months; 
Whereas, on November 1, 2010, the deadliest ever recorded 
attack on Iraqi Christians occurred at the Sayidat al- 
Nejat Catholic Cathedral located in central Baghdad, 
where militants stormed the church and detonated 2 sui-
cide vests filled with ball bearings, killing 58 and wound-
ing 78 parishioners; 
Whereas, on January 1, 2011, a suicide bomber blew himself 
up in front of the Saint George and Bishop Peter Church 
in Cairo, killing 21 Egyptian Coptic Christians, a Chris-
tian minority group that accounts for 9 percent of 
Egypt’s population of 80,000,000; 
Whereas the freedom to proselytize by minority religious com-
munities in Arab nations has also come under repeated 
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•HRES 106 IH 
and deadly attack in recent months through so-called 
blasphemy laws that are punishable by death; 
Whereas, on January 4, 2011, Governor Salman Tasser, who 
courageously sought to release Aasia Bibi, a Christian 
woman and mother of 5 who was sentenced to death 
under Pakistan’s blasphemy laws, was gunned down by 
his own security guard because of his support for reform-
ing the blasphemy laws; 
Whereas, on March 2, 2011, Shahbaz Bhatti, Pakistan’s only 
Christian cabinet member and passionate supporter of 
interfaith tolerance and repeal of Pakistan’s blasphemy 
law, was assassinated by multiple gunmen, leaving his 
body and vehicle riddled with 80 bullets and anti-Chris-
tian pamphlets strewn over his body; and 
Whereas, on February 21, 2013, Sherry Rehman, Pakistan’s 
Ambassador to the United States, and a vocal proponent 
of repealing Pakistan’s blasphemy law, was herself ac-
cused of blasphemy, and the Supreme Court of Pakistan 
ordered police in the central Pakistani city of Multan to 
investigate: Now, therefore, be it 
Resolved, That the House of Representatives— 
(1) recognizes, in this spirit of Arab Spring rev-
olution, that religious minority freedoms and rights 
must be protected; and 
(2) urges in the strongest terms that the 
United States Government lead the international ef-
fort to repeal existing blasphemy laws. 
Æ 
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