HCON 7 RFS 
Whereas, on September 16, Iranians gathered in the streets 
of Tehran to protest the killing of Mahsa Amini; 
Whereas demonstrations have since spread to more than 133 
cities and 130 universities in Iran, where women are re-
moving 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 dem-
onstrations with violence and detentions, including deten-
tions of journalists and activists for covering the protests; 
Whereas the security forces have reportedly killed more than 
450 protestors, including at least 58 children; however, 
the number of injuries and deaths is likely higher but 
unobtainable due to internet blackouts; 
Whereas at least 18,000 Iranians have been arrested across 
Iran according to official sources, and many thousands 
more have been detained according to independent re-
ports; 
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 func-
tions; 
Whereas common protest chants include— 
(1) ‘‘Women, life, and freedom!’’; 
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HCON 7 RFS 
(2) ‘‘Iranians die but will not be suppressed!’’; and 
(3) 
‘‘Death 
to 
the 
dictator 
Ayatollah 
Ali 
Khamenei!’’; 
Whereas the Iranian regime has a long history of structural 
and legal discrimination against women, including bar-
riers for women seeking justice against domestic violence 
and criminal prohibitions against women singing or show-
ing 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 pic-
ture of herself on social media, and, in August 2022, ap-
proved of enforcing mandatory hijab laws through facial 
recognition; 
Whereas, through misogynistic criminal statutes, the Iranian 
regime for decades has detained and engaged in the on-
going 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) 
Yasaman 
Aryani, 
her 
mother 
Monireh 
Arabshahi, and Mojgan Keshavarz, who were sentenced 
to serve five and a half 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; 
(3) human rights attorney Nasrin Sotoudeh, who 
was sentenced in 2019 to 38 years in prison and 148 
lashes for providing legal defense services to women 
charged with not wearing a hijab; 
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HCON 7 RFS 
(4) Narges Mohammadi, a prominent rights advo-
cate, who— 
(A) was arrested in November 2021 on the sec-
ond anniversary of countrywide protests and is cur-
rently serving a 2-year sentence in prison; 
(B) was handed a further sentence of 15 
months imprisonment for ‘‘propaganda against the 
state’’; and 
(C) previously, had been sentenced to 10 years 
in prison in May 2015 for ‘‘establishing an illegal 
group’’, ‘‘assembly and collusion to act against na-
tional security’’, and ‘‘propaganda against the 
state’’; 
(5) former Vice President for Women and Family 
Affairs Shahindokht Molaverdi, who was charged with en-
couraging ‘‘corruption, prostitution, and sexual devi-
ance’’, a common charge against women refusing manda-
tory hijab laws, and sentenced in December 2020 to 30 
months in prison for defending the right of women to at-
tend sporting events and criticizing the practice of child 
marriage; 
(6) 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 pub-
lic; 
(7) Niloofar Hamedi, one of the first Iranian jour-
nalists to report on Mahsa Amini’s death, who was ar-
rested on September 22, 2022, and is being held in soli-
tary confinement; and 
(8) countless other women; and 
Whereas peaceful protests in Iran over the last year have fo-
cused on grievances that include— 
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HCON 7 RFS 
(1) mismanagement of the economy and national re-
sources; 
(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 
Resolved by the House of Representatives (the Senate 
concurring), That Congress— 
(1) condemns— 
(A) the brutal beating and death of Mahsa 
Amini; and 
(B) the violent suppression by the Iranian 
regime of women and men participating in the 
current demonstrations, including children, and 
calls for transparent accountability for all 
killings of protesters by Iranian security forces; 
(2) supports the women and men of Iran who 
are— 
(A) participating in the current protests to 
defend their fundamental human rights; and 
(B) risking their safety to speak out 
against the human rights abuses committed by 
the Iranian regime; 
(3) supports internet freedom programs that 
circumvent the regime and provide support for 
VPNs and other alternatives that can be used to by-
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HCON 7 RFS 
pass attempts by authoritarian governments to cen-
sor internet access during times of protest, and com-
mends private entities willing to provide programs to 
circumvent such censorship; 
(4) encourages continued efforts by the Biden 
Administration to respond to the protests, including 
the recent sanctioning of the Iranian morality police, 
and further encourages the Biden Administration— 
(A) to immediately impose, under existing 
authorities, additional human rights sanctions 
on officials and entities responsible for the re-
pression of the current protests; 
(B) to prioritize efforts to expand unre-
stricted internet access in Iran, consistent with 
existing law; and 
(C) to work to develop a strategy to pre-
vent the Iranian regime from obtaining and ex-
ploiting facial recognition data and software for 
the use of mass surveillance and enforcement of 
mandatory hijab; 
(5) encourages the private sector, following the 
recent clarification by the Biden Administration of 
sanctions exemptions on communications technology, 
to work with the Biden Administration to ensure 
protestors and activists have access to tools needed 
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