Title: Iran Human Rights and Hostage-Taking Accountability Act
Policy area: International Affairs

Summary:
Iran Human Rights and Hostage-Taking Accountability Act
This bill directs the President to impose sanctions on those responsible for human rights violations related to Iran's government.
The President shall impose sanctions on Iranian persons responsible for or complicit in politically-motivated harassment, abuse, extortion, or extended detention or trial of (1) U.S. citizens and permanent residents, (2) Iranian citizens and residents, or (3) persons of Iranian origin. The sanctions shall include denial and revocation of visas, blocking of property, and restrictions on financial transactions.
The immediate family members of such sanctioned individuals shall be ineligible for admission into the United States, and current visas of such family members shall be revoked.
The bill also directs the Department of State to report on a strategy to prevent the Iranian government from taking hostage of or arbitrarily detaining U.S. citizens.


[Congressional Bills 116th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H.R. 194 Introduced in House (IH)]

<DOC>






116th CONGRESS
  1st Session
                                H. R. 194

  To impose additional sanctions with respect to serious human rights 
       abuses of the Government of Iran, and for other purposes.


_______________________________________________________________________


                    IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

                            January 3, 2019

  Mr. McCaul introduced the following bill; which was referred to the 
Committee on Foreign Affairs, and in addition to the Committees on the 
 Judiciary, Financial Services, and Ways and Means, for a period to be 
subsequently determined by the Speaker, in each case for consideration 
  of such provisions as fall within the jurisdiction of the committee 
                               concerned

_______________________________________________________________________

                                 A BILL


 
  To impose additional sanctions with respect to serious human rights 
       abuses of the Government of Iran, and for other purposes.

    Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the 
United States of America in Congress assembled,

SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.

    This Act may be cited as the ``Iran Human Rights and Hostage-Taking 
Accountability Act''.

SEC. 2. UNITED STATES POLICY ON HUMAN RIGHTS VIOLATIONS BY THE 
              GOVERNMENT OF IRAN.

    (a) Findings.--Congress finds the following:
            (1) Iran is a member of the United Nations, voted for the 
        Universal Declaration of Human Rights, and is a signatory to 
        the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, among 
        other international human rights treaties.
            (2) In violation of these and other international 
        obligations, Iranian regime officials continue to violate the 
        fundamental human rights of the Iranian people.
            (3) The Iranian regime persecutes ethnic and religious 
        minority groups, such as the Baha'is, Christians, Sufi, Sunni, 
        and dissenting Shi'a Muslims (such as imprisoned Ayatollah 
        Hossein Kazemeyni Boroujerdi), through harassment, arrests, and 
        imprisonment, during which detainees have routinely been 
        beaten, tortured, and killed.
            (4) Following voting irregularities that resulted in the 
        2009 election of President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, the Iranian 
        regime brutally suppressed peaceful political dissent from wide 
        segments of civil society during the Green Revolution in a 
        cynical attempt to retain its undemocratic grip on power.
            (5) Since February 2011, the leaders of Iran's Green 
        Movement, former Prime Minister Mir Hossein Mousavi and his 
        wife Dr. Zahra Rahnavard, have been incarcerated, and former 
        Speaker of the Majles (parliament) Mehdi Karroubi has lived 
        under strict house arrest, ordered by Iran's Supreme National 
        Security.
            (6) In 1999 the Iranian regime brutally suppressed a 
        student revolt that was one of the largest mass uprisings up 
        until that point in the country since 1979.
            (7) Over a 4-month period in 1988, the Iranian regime 
        carried out the barbaric mass executions of thousands of 
        political prisoners by hanging and firing squad for refusing to 
        renounce their political affiliations and in some cases for 
        possessing political reading material, including prisoners of 
        conscience, teenagers, and pregnant women. In an audiotape, the 
        late Hussein Ali Montazeri, a grand ayatollah who served as 
        former Supreme leader Khomeini's chief deputy, said that the 
        1988 mass killings were ``the greatest crime committed during 
        the Islamic Republic, for which history will condemn us''.
            (8) Senior governmental, military, and public security 
        officials in Iran have continued ordering, controlling, and 
        committing egregious human rights violations that, in many 
        cases, represent official policies of the Iranian regime.
    (b) Sense of Congress.--It is the sense of the Congress that the 
United States should--
            (1) deny the Government of Iran the ability to continue to 
        oppress the people of Iran and to use violence and executions 
        to silence pro-democracy protestors;
            (2) work with international partners to investigate human 
        rights violations by senior officials of the Government of 
        Iran, regardless of where or when such violations took place;
            (3) support efforts made by the people of Iran to promote 
        the establishment of basic freedoms that build the foundation 
        for the emergence of a freely elected, open, non-corrupt and 
        democratic political system;
            (4) condemn Iranian human rights abuses against dissidents, 
        including the massacre in 1988 and the suppression of political 
        demonstrations in 1999, 2009, and 2017, and pressure the 
        Government of Iran to provide family members detailed 
        information that they were denied about the final resting 
        places of any missing victims of such abuses; and
            (5) help the people of Iran produce, access, and share 
        information freely and safely via the internet and other media.
    (c) Statement of Policy.--It shall be the policy of the United 
States to stand with the people of Iran who seek the opportunity to 
freely elect a government of their choosing, and increase the 
utilization of all available authorities to impose sanctions on 
officials of the Government of Iran and other individuals responsible 
for serious human rights abuses.

SEC. 3. DETERMINATIONS WITH RESPECT TO IMPOSITION OF SANCTIONS ON 
              CERTAIN PERSONS RESPONSIBLE FOR OR COMPLICIT IN HUMAN 
              RIGHTS ABUSES, ENGAGING IN CENSORSHIP, ENGAGING IN THE 
              DIVERSION OF GOODS INTENDED FOR THE PEOPLE OF IRAN, OR 
              ENGAGING IN CORRUPTION.

    (a) In General.--Not later than 270 days after the date of the 
enactment of this Act, the President shall submit to the appropriate 
congressional committees a report containing a determination of whether 
any senior officials of the Government of Iran or other Iranian persons 
meet the criteria described in--
            (1) subsection (b) of section 105D of the Comprehensive 
        Iran Sanctions, Accountability, and Divestment Act of 2010, as 
        added by section 5 of this Act; or
            (2) paragraph (3) or (4) of section 1263(a) of the National 
        Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2017 (Public Law 114-
        328; 22 U.S.C. 2656 note).
    (b) Review of Certain Entities.--The report required under 
subsection (a) shall contain a review of any activities of cooperative 
foundations or bonyads in Iran with a capitalization that exceeds 
$200,000,000 and that meet the criteria in paragraph (3) or (4) of 
section 1263(a) of the National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal 
Year 2017 (Public Law 114-328; 22 U.S.C. 2656 note) for purposes of 
corruption.
    (c) Form of Report; Public Availability.--
            (1) Form.--The report required under subsection (a) shall 
        be submitted in unclassified form, but may contain a classified 
        annex.
            (2) Public availability.--The unclassified portion of such 
        report shall be made available to the public and posted on the 
        internet website of the Department of the Treasury--
                    (A) in English, Farsi, Arabic, and Azeri; and
                    (B) in precompressed, easily downloadable versions 
                that are made available in all appropriate formats.
    (d) Definition.--In this section, the term ``appropriate 
congressional committees'' means--
            (1) the Committee on Financial Services and the Committee 
        on Foreign Affairs of the House of Representatives; and
            (2) the Committee on Banking, Housing, and Urban Affairs 
        and the Committee on Foreign Relations of the Senate.

SEC. 4. UNITED STATES POLICY ON HOSTAGE-TAKING BY THE GOVERNMENT OF 
              IRAN.

    (a) Findings.--Congress finds the following:
            (1) Since 1979 the Iranian regime has engaged in various 
        destabilizing activities that undermine the national security 
        of the United States and its allies and partners.
            (2) These activities include the hostage-taking or 
        prolonged arbitrary detentions of United States citizens and 
        other persons with connections to Canada, the United Kingdom, 
        France, and other nations allied with the United States.
            (3) The Iranian regime has detained on fabricated claims a 
        significant number of United States citizens, including Siamak 
        and Baquer Namazi and Xiyue Wang, as well as United States 
        legal permanent resident, Nizar Zakka, in violation of 
        international legal norms.
            (4) The Iranian regime has not provided information on the 
        whereabouts of or assistance in ensuring the prompt and safe 
        return of Robert Levinson, despite repeated promises to do so, 
        after he was kidnapped while visiting Iran's Kish Island on 
        March 9, 2007--making him the longest held hostage in United 
        States history.
            (5) The Iranian regime reportedly uses hostages as leverage 
        against foreign investors to exact business concessions in 
        foreign investment deals.
            (6) The type of hostage-taking enterprise put in place by 
        the Iranian regime is a crime against humanity and a violation 
        of customary international law.
    (b) Sense of Congress.--It is the sense of the Congress that--
            (1) the Administration should fully utilize all necessary 
        and appropriate measures to prevent the Iranian regime from 
        engaging in hostage-taking or the prolonged arbitrary detention 
        of United States citizens or legal permanent resident aliens, 
        to include--
                    (A) the use of extradition to try and convict those 
                individuals responsible for ordering or controlling the 
                hostage-taking or arbitrary detention of United States 
                citizens; and
                    (B) the use of the Department of Homeland 
                Security's Human Rights Violators and War Crimes Center 
                to target such individuals; and
            (2) the United States should encourage its allies and other 
        affected countries to pursue the criminal prosecution and 
        extradition of state and non-state actors in Iran that assist 
        in or benefit from such hostage-taking to prevent such state 
        and non-state actors from engaging in this practice in the 
        future.
    (c) Statement of Policy.--It is the policy of the United States 
Government not to pay ransom for the purpose of securing the release of 
United States citizens or legal permanent resident aliens taken hostage 
abroad.
    (d) Strategy.--Not later than 120 days after the date of the 
enactment of this Act, the Secretary of State shall submit to the 
Committee on Foreign Affairs of the House of Representatives and the 
Committee on Foreign Relations of the Senate a report that contains a 
strategy to prevent elements of the Iranian regime from engaging in 
hostage-taking or the prolonged arbitrary detention of United States 
citizens or legal permanent resident aliens.

SEC. 5. IMPOSITION OF SANCTIONS WITH RESPECT TO IRANIAN PERSONS WHO 
              ENGAGE IN CERTAIN ACTIONS AGAINST UNITED STATES CITIZENS 
              OR IRANIAN PERSONS.

    (a) Sense of Congress.--It is the sense of Congress that the United 
States should coordinate with United States allies and other allies and 
partners whose citizens may be subject to politically-motivated 
detention or trial in Iran, to apply sanctions against Iranian persons 
that are responsible for or complicit in, or responsible for ordering, 
controlling, or otherwise directing, such detention or trial.
    (b) In General.--Title I of the Comprehensive Iran Sanctions, 
Accountability, and Divestment Act of 2010 is amended by inserting 
after section 105C (22 U.S.C. 8514c) the following:

``SEC. 105D. IMPOSITION OF SANCTIONS WITH RESPECT TO IRANIAN PERSONS 
              WHO ENGAGE IN CERTAIN ACTIONS AGAINST UNITED STATES 
              CITIZENS OR IRANIAN PERSONS.

    ``(a) In General.--The President shall impose sanctions described 
in section 105(c) with respect to each person on the list required by 
subsection (b).
    ``(b) List of Iranian Persons Who Engage in Certain Actions Against 
United States Citizens or Iranian Persons.--
            ``(1) In general.--Not later than 180 days after the date 
        of the enactment of this section, the President shall submit to 
        the appropriate congressional committees a list of Iranian 
        persons that the President determines, are knowingly--
                    ``(A) responsible for or complicit in, or 
                responsible for ordering or otherwise directing, the 
                politically-motivated harassment, abuse, extortion, or 
                extended detention or trial of citizens of the United 
                States or United States legal permanent resident 
                aliens, regardless of whether such actions occurred in 
                Iran; or
                    ``(B) responsible for or complicit in, or 
                responsible for ordering or otherwise directing, the 
                politically-motivated harassment, abuse, extortion, or 
                extended detention or trial of Iranians, Iranian 
                residents, or persons of Iranian origin outside of 
                Iran.
            ``(2) Updates of list.--The President shall submit to the 
        appropriate congressional committees an updated list under 
        paragraph (1)--
                    ``(A) each time the President is required to submit 
                an updated list to those committees under section 
                105(b)(2)(A); and
                    ``(B) as new information becomes available.
            ``(3) Form of report; public availability.--
                    ``(A) Form.--The list required by paragraph (1) 
                shall be submitted in unclassified form but may contain 
                a classified annex.
                    ``(B) Public availability.--The unclassified 
                portion of the list required by paragraph (1) shall be 
                made available to the public and posted on the websites 
                of the Department of the Treasury and the Department of 
                State.
    ``(c) Application of Sanctions to Immediate Family Members.--
            ``(1) In general.--The President is authorized to impose 
        sanctions described in paragraph (2) with respect to each 
        person that is a family member of any person on the list 
        required by subsection (b).
            ``(2) Aliens ineligible for visas, admission, or parole.--
                    ``(A) Visas, admission, or parole.--An alien who 
                the Secretary of State or the Secretary of Homeland 
                Security (or a designee of one of such Secretaries) 
                knows, or has reason to believe, is a family member of 
                any person on the list required by subsection (b) is--
                            ``(i) inadmissible to the United States;
                            ``(ii) ineligible to receive a visa or 
                        other documentation to enter the United States; 
                        and
                            ``(iii) otherwise ineligible to be admitted 
                        or paroled into the United States or to receive 
                        any other benefit under the Immigration and 
                        Nationality Act (8 U.S.C. 1101 et seq.).
                    ``(B) Current visas revoked.--
                            ``(i) In general.--The issuing consular 
                        officer, the Secretary of State, or the 
                        Secretary of Homeland Security (or a designee 
                        of one of such Secretaries) shall revoke any 
                        visa or other entry documentation issued to an 
                        alien who is a family member of any person on 
                        the list required by subsection (b) regardless 
                        of when issued.
                            ``(ii) Effect of revocation.--A revocation 
                        under clause (i)--
                                    ``(I) shall take effect 
                                immediately; and
                                    ``(II) shall automatically cancel 
                                any other valid visa or entry 
                                documentation that is in the alien's 
                                possession.
            ``(3) Exception to comply with united nations headquarters 
        agreement.--Sanctions under paragraph (2) shall not apply to an 
        alien if admitting the alien into the United States is 
        necessary to permit the United States to comply with the 
        Agreement regarding the Headquarters of the United Nations, 
        signed at Lake Success June 26, 1947, and entered into force 
        November 21, 1947, between the United Nations and the United 
        States, or other applicable international obligations.
            ``(4) Definition of family member.--In this section, the 
        term `family member' means, with respect to an individual--
                    ``(A) a spouse, child, parent, sibling, grandchild, 
                or grandparent of the individual; and
                    ``(B) a spouse's child, parent, or sibling.
    ``(d) Termination of Sanctions.--The provisions of this section 
shall terminate on the date that is 30 days after the date on which the 
President--
            ``(1) determines and certifies to the appropriate 
        congressional committees that the Government of Iran is no 
        longer complicit in or responsible for the wrongful and 
        unlawful detention of United States citizens or legal permanent 
        resident aliens; and
            ``(2) transmits to the appropriate congressional committees 
        the certification described in section 105(d) of this Act.''.
    (c) Clerical Amendment.--The table of contents for the 
Comprehensive Iran Sanctions, Accountability, and Divestment Act of 
2010 is amended by inserting after the item relating to section 105C 
the following new item:

``Sec. 105D. Imposition of sanctions with respect to Iranian persons 
                            who engage in certain actions against 
                            United States citizens or Iranian 
                            persons.''.
    (d) Amendments to General Provisions.--Section 401 of the 
Comprehensive Iran Sanctions, Accountability, and Divestment Act of 
2010 (22 U.S.C. 8551) is amended--
            (1) in subsection (a), by striking ``and 305'' and 
        inserting ``, 105D, and 305''; and
            (2) in subsection (b)(1)--
                    (A) by striking ``or 105C(a)'' and inserting 
                ``105C(a), or 105D(a)''; and
                    (B) by striking ``or 105C(b)'' and inserting 
                ``105C(b), or 105D(b)''.
                                 <all>