I 
111TH CONGRESS 
2D SESSION 
H. R. 4649 
To impose sanctions on persons who are complicit in human rights abuses 
committed against citizens of Iran or their family members after the 
June 12, 2009, political processes in Iran, and for other purposes. 
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 
FEBRUARY 23, 2010 
Ms. ROS-LEHTINEN (for herself, Mr. MARSHALL, and Mr. ROYCE) introduced 
the following bill; which was referred to the Committee on Foreign Af-
fairs, and in addition to the Committees on Financial Services, Ways and 
Means, and the Judiciary, for a period to be subsequently determined by 
the Speaker, in each case for consideration of such provisions as fall with-
in the jurisdiction of the committee concerned 
A BILL 
To impose sanctions on persons who are complicit in human 
rights abuses committed against citizens of Iran or their 
family members after the June 12, 2009, political proc-
esses in 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 
Sanctions Act’’. 
VerDate Nov 24 2008 
07:02 Feb 24, 2010
Jkt 089200
PO 00000
Frm 00001
Fmt 6652
Sfmt 6201
E:\BILLS\H4649.IH
H4649
dcolon on DSK2BSOYB1PROD with BILLS
SEC. 2. FINDINGS. 
Congress makes the following findings: 
(1) Iran voted in the United Nations General 
Assembly on December 10, 1948, to adopt the Uni-
versal Declaration of Human Rights, thereby com-
mitting to guarantee the ‘‘life, liberty, and security 
of person’’ of all people and rejecting ‘‘cruel, inhu-
man, or degrading treatment or punishment’’. 
(2) Iran is a party to major international 
human rights instruments. 
(3) The Government of Iran is violating its 
international obligations to respect the human rights 
and fundamental freedoms of its citizens, including 
by— 
(A) using torture and cruel, inhuman, or 
degrading treatment or punishment, including 
flogging, and amputations; 
(B) carrying out an increasingly high rate 
of executions in the absence of internationally 
recognized safeguards, including public execu-
tions; 
(C) using stoning as a method of execution 
and maintaining a high number of persons in 
prison who continue to face sentences of execu-
tion by stoning; 
VerDate Nov 24 2008 
07:02 Feb 24, 2010
Jkt 089200
PO 00000
Frm 00002
Fmt 6652
Sfmt 6201
E:\BILLS\H4649.IH
H4649
dcolon on DSK2BSOYB1PROD with BILLS
(D) carrying out arrests, violent repres-
sion, and sentencing of women exercising their 
right to peaceful assembly, a campaign of in-
timidation against women’s rights defenders, 
and continuing discrimination against women 
and girls; 
(E) permitting or carrying out increasing 
discrimination and other human rights viola-
tions against persons belonging to religious, 
ethnic, linguistic, or other minorities; 
(F) imposing ongoing, systematic, and se-
rious restrictions of freedom of peaceful assem-
bly and association and freedom of opinion and 
expression, including the continuing closures of 
media outlets, arrests of journalists, and the 
censorship of expression in online forums such 
as blogs and websites; and 
(G) imposing severe limitations and re-
strictions on freedom of religion and belief, in-
cluding by carrying out arbitrary arrests, in-
definite detentions, and lengthy jail sentences 
for those exercising their rights to freedom of 
religion or belief and proposing a provision in a 
draft penal code that sets out a mandatory 
VerDate Nov 24 2008 
07:02 Feb 24, 2010
Jkt 089200
PO 00000
Frm 00003
Fmt 6652
Sfmt 6201
E:\BILLS\H4649.IH
H4649
dcolon on DSK2BSOYB1PROD with BILLS
death sentence for apostasy, the abandoning of 
one’s faith. 
(4) On June 19, 2009, the United Nations 
High Commissioner for Human Rights expressed 
concerns about the increasing number of arrests not 
in conformity with the law and the illegal use of ex-
cessive force in responding to protests following the 
June 12, 2009, political processes in Iran, resulting 
in at least dozens of deaths and hundreds of inju-
ries. 
(5) On August 1, 2009, authorities in the Gov-
ernment of Iran began a mass trial of more than 
100 individuals in connection with election protests, 
most of whom were held for weeks, in solitary con-
finement, with little or no access to their lawyers or 
families, and many of whom showed signs of torture 
or abuse. 
(6) The ‘‘Supreme Leader’’ of Iran issued a 
statement on October 28, 2009, effectively criminal-
izing dissent in the aftermath of the national polit-
ical processes of June 12, 2009. 
(7) On November 4, 2009, security forces in 
the Government of Iran used brutal force to disperse 
thousands of protesters, resulting in a number of in-
juries and arrests, in violation of international 
VerDate Nov 24 2008 
07:02 Feb 24, 2010
Jkt 089200
PO 00000
Frm 00004
Fmt 6652
Sfmt 6201
E:\BILLS\H4649.IH
H4649
dcolon on DSK2BSOYB1PROD with BILLS
norms regarding the proportionate use of force 
against peaceful demonstrations. 
(8) At least 8 citizens of Iran were killed and 
an undetermined number were injured on December 
27, 2009, when security forces of the Government of 
Iran violently broke up peaceful gatherings during 
the Ashura holiday. 
(9) The Government of Iran has recently sen-
tenced numerous Iranian citizens to death without 
due process for politicized crimes relating to the 
peaceful demonstrations that followed the June 12, 
2009, political processes, including ‘‘waging war 
against God’’, and has begun carrying out those exe-
cution sentences, including the death by hanging of 
2 individuals on January 28, 2010. 
(10) The Iran Freedom Support Act (Public 
Law 109–293; 50 U.S.C. 1701 note) declares that 
it should be the policy of the United States— 
(A) to support efforts by the people of Iran 
to exercise self-determination over the form of 
government of their country; and 
(B) to support independent human rights 
and peaceful pro-democracy forces in Iran. 
VerDate Nov 24 2008 
07:02 Feb 24, 2010
Jkt 089200
PO 00000
Frm 00005
Fmt 6652
Sfmt 6201
E:\BILLS\H4649.IH
H4649
dcolon on DSK2BSOYB1PROD with BILLS
SEC. 3. IMPOSITION OF SANCTIONS ON CERTAIN PERSONS 
WHO ARE COMPLICIT IN HUMAN RIGHTS 
ABUSES COMMITTED AGAINST CITIZENS OF 
IRAN OR THEIR FAMILY MEMBERS AFTER 
THE JUNE 12, 2009, POLITICAL PROCESSES IN 
IRAN. 
(a) IN GENERAL.—The President shall impose sanc-
tions described in subsection (c) (1) and (2) with respect 
to each person on the list required by subsection (b), be-
ginning not later than the date on which the President 
submits to the appropriate congressional committees the 
list required by subsection (b)(1) or the updated list re-
quired by subsection (b)(2) (as the case may be). 
(b) LIST OF PERSONS WHO ARE COMPLICIT IN CER-
TAIN HUMAN RIGHTS ABUSES.— 
(1) IN GENERAL.—Not later than 90 days after 
the date of the enactment of this Act, the President 
shall submit to the appropriate congressional com-
mittees a list of persons who are citizens of Iran 
that the President determines are complicit in 
human rights abuses committed against citizens of 
Iran or their family members on or after June 12, 
2009, regardless of whether such abuses occurred in 
Iran. 
(2) UPDATES
OF
LIST.—Not later than 180 
days after the date of the enactment of this Act, and 
VerDate Nov 24 2008 
07:02 Feb 24, 2010
Jkt 089200
PO 00000
Frm 00006
Fmt 6652
Sfmt 6201
E:\BILLS\H4649.IH
H4649
dcolon on DSK2BSOYB1PROD with BILLS
every 90 days thereafter, the President shall submit 
to the appropriate congressional committees an up-
dated list under paragraph (1). 
(3) PUBLIC AVAILABILITY.—The list required 
by paragraph (1) shall be made available to the pub-
lic and posted on the websites of the Department of 
the Treasury and the Department of State. 
(4) CONSIDERATION
OF
DATA
FROM
OTHER 
COUNTRIES
AND
NONGOVERNMENTAL
ORGANIZA-
TIONS.—In preparing the list required by paragraph 
(1), the President shall consider data already ob-
tained by other countries and nongovernmental orga-
nizations, including organizations in Iran, that mon-
itor the human rights abuses of the Government of 
Iran. 
(c) SANCTIONS
DESCRIBED.—The sanctions de-
scribed in this subsection are the following: 
(1) VISA BAN.—Ineligibility for a visa to enter 
the United States. 
(2) FINANCIAL SANCTIONS.—Sanctions author-
ized under the International Emergency Economic 
Powers Act (50 U.S.C. 1701 et seq.), including 
blocking of property and restrictions or prohibitions 
on financial transactions and the exportation and 
importation of property. 
VerDate Nov 24 2008 
07:02 Feb 24, 2010
Jkt 089200
PO 00000
Frm 00007
Fmt 6652
Sfmt 6201
E:\BILLS\H4649.IH
H4649
dcolon on DSK2BSOYB1PROD with BILLS
(d) TERMINATION OF SANCTIONS.—The provisions of 
this section shall cease to have force and effect beginning 
90 days after the date on which the President determines 
and certifies to the appropriate congressional committees 
that— 
(1) the persons sanctioned under this section 
have ceased to be complicit in human rights abuses 
committed against citizens of Iran or their family 
members on or after June 12, 2009, regardless of 
whether such abuses occurred in Iran; and 
(2) the Government of Iran has— 
(A) unconditionally released all political 
prisoners, including the citizens of Iran de-
tained in the aftermath of the June 12, 2009, 
political processes in Iran, and allowed for in-
vestigations of Iranian prisons by appropriate 
international human rights organizations; 
(B) ceased its practices of violence, unlaw-
ful detention, torture, and abuse of citizens of 
Iran while engaging in peaceful political activ-
ity; 
(C) conducted a transparent investigation 
into the killings, arrest, and abuse of peaceful 
political activists in Iran and prosecuted those 
responsible; 
VerDate Nov 24 2008 
07:02 Feb 24, 2010
Jkt 089200
PO 00000
Frm 00008
Fmt 6652
Sfmt 6201
E:\BILLS\H4649.IH
H4649
dcolon on DSK2BSOYB1PROD with BILLS
(D) legalized all political activity; 
(E) made public commitments to orga-
nizing free and fair elections for a new govern-
ment— 
(i) to be held in a timely manner with-
in a period not to exceed 180 days after 
the date on which the President makes the 
determination and certification to the ap-
propriate congressional committees under 
this subsection; 
(ii) with the participation of multiple 
independent political parties that have full 
access to the media on an equal basis, in-
cluding (in the case of radio, television, or 
other telecommunications media) in terms 
of allotments of time for such access and 
the times of day such allotments are given; 
and 
(iii) to be conducted under the super-
vision of internationally recognized observ-
ers; 
(F) ceased any interference with broad-
casts such as Voice of America and Radio 
Farda; and 
VerDate Nov 24 2008 
07:02 Feb 24, 2010
Jkt 089200
PO 00000
Frm 00009
Fmt 6652
Sfmt 6201
E:\BILLS\H4649.IH
H4649
dcolon on DSK2BSOYB1PROD with BILLS