•HRES 823 IH 
Whereas, since 1979, authorities have killed or executed more 
than 200 Baha’i leaders, and more than 10,000 have 
been dismissed from government and university jobs; 
Whereas the Report of the United Nations Special 
Rapporteur on the situation of human rights in the Is-
lamic Republic of Iran (A/74/188) dated July 18, 2019, 
provides, in part— 
(1) the Iranian authorities and the Iranian criminal 
justice system regard the Baha’is as ‘‘unprotected 
infidels’’; the Baha’i faith is also ‘‘regarded as a mis-
guided sect’’; and ‘‘Baha’i worship and religious practices 
are deemed heresy.’’; 
(2) ‘‘Baha’is have been murdered with impunity and 
violations of their human rights have not been inves-
tigated.’’; 
(3) members of the Baha’i faith ‘‘frequently face 
charges, such as, ‘breaching national security’, ‘propa-
ganda against the holy regime of the Islamic Republic of 
Iran’, or ‘propaganda activities against the regime in the 
interests of the Baha’i sect’ ’’; 
(4) ‘‘Since August 2005, more than 1,168 Baha’is 
have been arrested and charged with vaguely worded 
offences.’’; 
(5) ‘‘There were a total of 95 Baha’is reportedly ar-
rested in 2018, compared with at least 84 in 2017 and 
81 in 2016.’’; 
(6) ‘‘On 1 January 2019, the court of appeal of 
Isfahan reportedly condemned, in separate judgments, 
nine Baha’i citizens to a total of 48 years of prison. They 
had been charged with ‘membership of the illegal Baha’i 
community and propaganda against the regime by 
spreading the Baha’i faith in the society.’ ’’; 
VerDate Sep 11 2014 
21:14 Jan 30, 2020
Jkt 099200
PO 00000
Frm 00002
Fmt 6652
Sfmt 6300
E:\BILLS\HR823.IH
HR823
pamtmann on DSKBC07HB2PROD with BILLS
•HRES 823 IH 
(7) directed by a 2007 letter from the Security Unit 
of the Public Place Supervision Office of the Islamic Re-
public of Iran to police commanders throughout the coun-
try, Iranian authorities continue to apply economic pres-
sure against the Baha’i community, by banning them 
from specific professions and ‘‘halting their entry to ‘high 
earning businesses.’ ’’; and 
(8) ‘‘Since 2013, there have been more than 803 in-
cidents of violations of economic rights of the Baha’is, in-
cluding arbitrary shop closures, unfair dismissals from 
employment and the actual or threatened revocation of 
business licenses.’’; 
Whereas the Department of State’s International Religious 
Freedom Report for 2018, Iran section, provides, in 
part— 
(1) ‘‘Non-Shia Muslims and those affiliated with a 
religion other than Islam, especially members of the 
Baha’i community, continued to face societal discrimina-
tion and harassment, and employers experienced social 
pressures not to hire Baha’is or to dismiss them from 
their private sector jobs.’’; and 
(2) ‘‘The law bars Baha’is from founding their own 
educational institutions. A Ministry of Science, Research, 
and Technology order requires universities to exclude Ba-
ha’is from access to higher education or expel them if 
their religious affiliation becomes known.’’; 
Whereas, on March 13, 2019, the Department of State re-
leased the Country Reports on Human Rights Practices 
for 2018 and, in connection with Iran, the report pro-
vides, in part— 
(1) Iranian authorities ‘‘barred Baha’i students from 
higher education’’, and in September 2018, denied enroll-
VerDate Sep 11 2014 
21:14 Jan 30, 2020
Jkt 099200
PO 00000
Frm 00003
Fmt 6652
Sfmt 6300
E:\BILLS\HR823.IH
HR823
pamtmann on DSKBC07HB2PROD with BILLS
•HRES 823 IH 
ment to more than 50 Baha’i college applicants because 
of their religious affiliation; and 
(2) ‘‘The country materially contributed to human 
rights abuses . . . in Yemen, through its support for 
Houthi rebels and directing authorities in Houthi-con-
trolled areas of Yemen to harass and detain Baha’is be-
cause of their religious affiliation.’’; 
Whereas the 2019 Annual Report of the United States Com-
mission on International Religious Freedom provides, in 
part— 
(1) ‘‘There are more than 300,000 Baha’is in Iran, 
who together constitute the largest non-Muslim religious 
majority in the country.’’; 
(2) ‘‘Shiraz city councilman Mehdi Hajati was ar-
rested on the order of the Shiraz Revolutionary Court 
after criticizing the arrests of Baha’is in his city.’’; and 
(3) ‘‘Security forces also prevented the burial of two 
deceased Baha’i individuals in a Baha’i cemetery in 
Kerman after it was sealed in March 2018. In October, 
the body of a deceased Baha’i woman was exhumed four 
days after her burial and abandoned in a desert area out-
side the town of Jaban.’’; 
Whereas the Baha’i International Community has docu-
mented more than 26,000 items of anti-Baha’i hate prop-
aganda in Iran’s official and semi official media since 
January 2014; 
Whereas the Government of Iran is a party to the Inter-
national Covenants on Human Rights and is in violation 
of its obligations under such covenants; 
Whereas section 105 of the Comprehensive Iran Sanctions, 
Accountability, and Divestment Act of 2010 (22 U.S.C. 
8514) authorizes the President to impose sanctions on in-
VerDate Sep 11 2014 
21:14 Jan 30, 2020
Jkt 099200
PO 00000
Frm 00004
Fmt 6652
Sfmt 6300
E:\BILLS\HR823.IH
HR823
pamtmann on DSKBC07HB2PROD with BILLS
•HRES 823 IH 
dividuals ‘‘responsible for or complicit in, or responsible 
for ordering, controlling, or otherwise directing, the com-
mission of serious human rights abuses against citizens 
of Iran or their family members on or after June 12, 
2009’’; and 
Whereas the Iran Threat Reduction and Syria Human Rights 
Act of 2012 (Public Law 112–158) amends and expands 
the authorities established under the Comprehensive Iran 
Sanctions, Accountability, and Divestment Act of 2010 
(Public Law 111–195) to sanction Iranian human rights 
abusers: Now, therefore, be it 
Resolved, That the House of Representatives— 
(1) condemns the Government of Iran’s state- 
sponsored persecution of its Baha’i minority and its 
continued violation of the International Covenants 
on Human Rights; 
(2) calls on the Government of Iran— 
(A) to immediately release all imprisoned 
or detained Baha’is, together with all other 
prisoners held solely on account of their reli-
gion; 
(B) to end its state-sponsored campaign of 
hate propaganda against the Baha’is; and 
(C) to reverse state-imposed policies deny-
ing equal opportunities to higher education, 
earning a livelihood, due process under the law, 
and the free exercise of religious practices; 
VerDate Sep 11 2014 
21:14 Jan 30, 2020
Jkt 099200
PO 00000
Frm 00005
Fmt 6652
Sfmt 6201
E:\BILLS\HR823.IH
HR823
pamtmann on DSKBC07HB2PROD with BILLS
•HRES 823 IH 
(3) calls on the President and the Secretary of 
State, in cooperation with responsible nations, to im-
mediately condemn the Government of Iran’s contin-
ued violation of human rights and demand the im-
mediate release of prisoners held solely on account 
of their religion; and 
(4) urges the President and the Secretary of 
State to utilize available authorities to impose sanc-
tions on officials of the Government of Iran and 
other individuals directly responsible for serious 
human rights abuses, including abuses against the 
Baha’i community of Iran. 
Æ 
VerDate Sep 11 2014 
21:14 Jan 30, 2020
Jkt 099200
PO 00000
Frm 00006
Fmt 6652
Sfmt 6301
E:\BILLS\HR823.IH
HR823
pamtmann on DSKBC07HB2PROD with BILLS