H. Res. 492 
In the House of Representatives, U. S., 
September 12, 2023. 
Whereas in 1982, 1984, 1988, 1990, 1992, 1993, 1994, 
1996, 2000, 2004, 2006, 2008, 2009, 2012, 2013, 2015, 
2016, 2017, 2018, 2020, 2021 and 2022, Congress de-
clared that it deplored the religious persecution by the 
Government of Iran of the Baha’i community and would 
hold the Government of Iran responsible for upholding 
the rights of all Iranian nationals, including members of 
the Baha’i faith; 
Whereas, since 1979, Iranian authorities have killed or exe-
cuted more than 200 Baha’i leaders, and more than 
10,000 Baha’is have been dismissed from government 
and university jobs; 
Whereas June 18, 2023, marks the 40th anniversary of the 
execution of 10 Baha’i women by the Iranian Govern-
ment each witnessing the hanging of those hanged before 
her in a final failed attempt to induce abandonment of 
their faith after over 6 months of imprisonment and vio-
lent abuse, with the youngest only 17 years old; 
Whereas, on December 15, 2022, the United Nations General 
Assembly adopted a resolution (A/C.3/77/L.34) criticizing 
Iran for human rights abuses and calling on Iran to 
carry out wide-ranging reforms, including—
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(1) to end its ‘‘continuing disregard for protections 
under Iranian law or internationally recognized safe-
guards relating to the imposition of the death penalty’’ 
and ‘‘to commute the sentences for child offenders on 
death row’’; 
(2) ‘‘to ensure, in law and in practice, that no one 
is subjected to torture or other cruel, inhumane or de-
grading treatment’’; 
(3) ‘‘to cease the widespread and systematic use of 
arbitrary arrests and detention’’; 
(4) ‘‘to release persons detained for the exercise of 
their human rights and fundamental freedoms’’; 
(5) ‘‘to address the poor conditions of prisons’’; 
(6) ‘‘to eliminate, in law and in practice, all forms 
of systemic discrimination and other human rights viola-
tions against women and girls’’; 
(7) to cease the ‘‘increased harassment, intimidation, 
persecution, arbitrary arrest and detention of, and incite-
ment to hatred that leads to violence against, persons be-
longing to recognized and unrecognized religious minori-
ties, including Christians (particularly converts from 
Islam), Gonabadi Dervishes, Jews, Sufi Muslims, Sunni 
Muslims, Yarsanis, Zoroastrians, and, in particular, Ba-
ha’is, who have been subjected to a sudden increase in 
persecution, who have faced increasing restrictions and 
systemic persecution by the Government of the Islamic 
Republic of Iran on account of their faith and have been 
reportedly subjected to mass arrests and lengthy prison 
sentences, as well as the arrest of prominent members 
and increased confiscation and destruction of property’’; 
and 
(8) ‘‘to release all religious practitioners imprisoned 
for their membership in or activities on behalf of a mi-
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nority religious group, to cease the desecration of ceme-
teries and to ensure that everyone has the right to free-
dom of thought, conscience and religion or belief’’; 
Whereas, in the 2023 Annual Report of the United States 
Commission on International Religious Freedom issued in 
April 2023, it is reported that— 
(1) the Government of Iran ‘‘escalated its persecu-
tion of Baha’is, conducting nationwide arrests and 
spreading propaganda against the group’’; 
(2) in February [2022], Judge Mohammadghasem 
Ain al-Kamali of Branch 1 of the Semnan Revolutionary 
Court ruled that [the parastatal entity known as] the 
Execution of Imam Khomeini’s Order (EIKO) could le-
gally confiscate the property of Baha’is . . . Branch 54 
of the Tehran Appeals Court upheld the decision in Au-
gust following the destruction of six Baha’i houses in 
Rooshankooh; 
(3) government officials arrested 14 Baha’is during 
a religious study in Ghaemshahr; and 
(4) the Government of Iran ‘‘continued its system-
atic campaign of Baha’i arrests’’ throughout the latter 
part of 2022; 
Whereas, in response to a surge in persecution in June and 
July 2022, involving the subjection of over 100 Baha’is 
to arrests, arraignments, sentencings, and raids on their 
homes and businesses across Iran, including the sen-
tencing in June of 26 individuals in the city of Shiraz to 
a combined total of 85 years in prison, the Department 
of State’s Office of International Religious Freedom 
issued a statement on August 2, 2022, indicating that 
‘‘[a]mid a continued rise in arrests, sentences, and 
imprisonments, the U.S. urges Iran to halt its ongoing
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oppression of the Baha’i community and honor its inter-
national obligations to respect the right of all Iranians to 
freedom of religion or belief’’; 
Whereas the Iran section of the Department of State’s 2022 
Report on International Religious Freedom issued in May 
2023 provides, in part— 
(1) ‘‘According to the Baha’i International Commu-
nity (BIC), Amnesty International, multiple international 
news organizations, and the United Nations, in July and 
August, security forces in cities across the country con-
ducted multiple raids of Baha’i homes, confiscated prop-
erty deemed ‘illegitimate wealth,’ and arrested Baha’is in 
their homes or workplaces on unsubstantiated charges in-
cluding ‘causing intellectual and ideological insecurity in 
Muslim society.’’; 
(2) ‘‘In August, a group of UN human rights ex-
perts released a joint statement calling on the govern-
ment to stop the increasing arbitrary arrests and en-
forced disappearances of members of the Baha’i Faith 
and the destruction or confiscation of their properties in 
what the experts said ‘bears all the signs of a policy of 
systematic persecution’.’’; and 
(3) ‘‘In their August 22 statement, the UN experts 
stated that as of April, more than 1,000 Baha’is awaited 
imprisonment, following their initial arrest and hear-
ings.’’; 
Whereas, on November 21, 2022, Ms. Mahvash Sabet and 
Ms. Fariba Kamalabadi, 2 former members of the dis-
banded informal 7-person leadership group of the Baha’is 
of Iran, who each served 10-year sentences from 2008 to 
2018 and have been detained since July 31, 2022, in 
Evin prison, were sentenced to an additional 10 years in
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prison each after a summary trial lasting 1 hour; and on 
February 10, 2023, another former member of the dis-
banded leadership group, Mr. Afif Naimi, who had also 
served a 10-year sentence from 2008 to 2018, was sen-
tenced on February 10, 2023, to 7 years in prison, which 
he began to serve on April 29, 2023; 
Whereas, on December 11, 2022, the Baha’i International 
Community organization reported that, ‘‘More than 320 
Baha’is have been affected by individual acts of persecu-
tion since the arrest [on July 31, 2022] of Mahvash 
[Sabet] and Fariba [Kamalabadi]. Dozens were arrested 
at various points in Shiraz, across Mazandaran province, 
and elsewhere throughout the country. Homes owned by 
Baha’is in the village of Roshankouh were demolished. 
Government plans to tar the Baha’is through hate speech 
and propaganda were also exposed. And at least 90 Ba-
ha’is are currently in prison or subject to degrading 
ankle-band monitoring.’’; 
Whereas, on April 21, 2023, the Department of State’s Office 
of International Religious Freedom issued a statement in 
a tweet indicating that, ‘‘[w]e are deeply concerned fol-
lowing the news of Mahvash Sabet’s injuries sustained 
while in prison. No one should be punished for their 
faith. We call on Iranian authorities to make sure Mrs. 
Sabet receives medical attention immediately and release 
her.’’; 
Whereas Iran is a member of the United Nations and a sig-
natory to both the Universal Declaration of Human 
Rights and the International Covenant on Civil and Polit-
ical Rights, among other international human rights trea-
ties, without reservation;
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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-
dividuals who are ‘‘responsible for or complicit in, or re-
sponsible for ordering, controlling, or otherwise directing, 
the commission 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-spon-
sored persecution of the Baha’i minority in Iran and the 
continued violation of the Universal Declaration of 
Human Rights and the International Covenant on Civil 
and Political Rights; 
(2) calls on the Government of Iran— 
(A) to immediately release the imprisoned or 
detained Baha’is and all other prisoners held solely 
on account of their religion; 
(B) to end its state-sponsored campaign of 
hate propaganda against the Baha’is; and 
(C) to reverse state-imposed policies denying 
Baha’is and members of other religious minorities
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equal opportunities to higher education, earning a 
livelihood, due process under the law, and the free 
exercise of religious practices; 
(3) calls on the President and the Secretary of 
State, in cooperation with responsible nations, to imme-
diately condemn the Government of Iran’s continued vio-
lation of human rights, and demand the immediate re-
lease 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 sanctions on of-
ficials of the Government of Iran and other individuals 
directly responsible for serious human rights abuses, in-
cluding abuses against the Baha’i community of Iran. 
Attest: 
Clerk.