Title: Badr Organization Designation Act of 2020
Policy area: International Affairs

Summary:
Badr Organization Designation Act of 2020
This bill prohibits the use of federal funds to support the Badr Organization, and it requires the Department of State to determine whether the organization meets criteria for (1) designation as a foreign terrorist organization, and (2) the imposition of certain sanctions. The Badr Organization is an Iran-based political party and the military arm of the Supreme Council for the Islamic Revolution in Iraq.

[Congressional Bills 116th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H.R. 8844 Introduced in House (IH)]

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116th CONGRESS
  2d Session
                                H. R. 8844

    To require reports and determinations relating to imposition of 
    sanctions against the Badr Organization, and for other purposes.


_______________________________________________________________________


                    IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

                            December 3, 2020

 Mr. Wilson of South Carolina introduced the following bill; which was 
 referred to the Committee on Foreign Affairs, and in addition to the 
Committee on the Judiciary, 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 require reports and determinations relating to imposition of 
    sanctions against the Badr Organization, 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 ``Badr Organization Designation Act of 
2020''.

SEC. 2. FINDINGS.

    Congress finds the following:
            (1) The Badr Organization, founded in 1983 as the military 
        arm of the Supreme Council for the Islamic Revolution in Iraq, 
        is Iran's oldest and most preeminent proxy in Iraq, a political 
        party which supported Ayatollah Khomeni's Islamic revolution in 
        Iran and desired to export it to Iraq.
            (2) The Badr Organization is provided training, funding, 
        and arms by Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC), 
        IRGC-Quds Force, and works closely with Kata'ib Hezbollah (KH), 
        Lebanese Hezbollah, and Asa'ib Ahl al-Haq (AAH), all of which 
        have been designated as Foreign Terrorist Organizations by the 
        Department of State.
            (3) Reports confirm that on December 31, 2019, Abu Mahdi 
        al-Mohandes, the now deceased deputy commander of the Popular 
        Mobilization Force and terrorist leader of Hezbollah, led a mob 
        of Iranian-backed Iraq militia groups to the United States 
        Embassy in Iraq and set fire to the building. With him was Badr 
        Organization leader, Hadi al-Amiri.
            (4) The Badr Organization has a history of targeting 
        Americans and allies in Iraq, committing human rights 
        violations by killing civilians and summarily executing Sunni 
        prisoners.
            (5) The Badr Organization is a cohesive unit modeled after 
        Hezbollah, and continues to politically thrive under the Fatah 
        Alliance made up of other Iranian-backed militias which nearly 
        have a voting majority.
            (6) Leader Hadi al-Amiri is quoted as saying that Supreme 
        Leader Ali Khameni ``is the leader not only for the Iranians, 
        but for the Islamic Nation''. Additionally, he described Quds 
        Force leader Qassem Solemani as his ``dearest friend''.
            (7) The Badr Organization deploys forces to Syria to fight 
        on behalf of the Bashar al-Assad regime, including 
        participating in the 2016 siege of Aleppo where the United 
        Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights alleges pro-
        government Iraq militia groups executed dozens of civilians.

SEC. 3. REPORT.

    Not later than 90 days after the date of the enactment of this Act, 
the Secretary of State shall submit to the appropriate congressional 
committees a report on the Badr Organization to include the following:
            (1) A description of the Badr Organization and other 
        Iranian-backed militias and their involvement in the December 
        2019 attack on the United States Embassy in Iraq.
            (2) A assessment of whether United States assistance to the 
        Popular Mobilization Forces has directly or indirectly 
        benefitted the Badr Organization.
            (3) A description of the Badr Organization's involvement in 
        human rights violations.
            (4) The Badr Organization's connections to foreign 
        terrorist groups, including an assessment of the links between 
        the Badr Organization and Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guard 
        Corps (IRGC), Hezbollah, Asa'ib Ahl al-Haq (AAH), Kata'ib 
        Hezbollah (KH), or any other organization designated by the 
        Department of State as a foreign terrorist organization.

SEC. 4. DETERMINATIONS WITH RESPECT TO THE IMPOSITION OF SANCTIONS 
              AGAINST THE BADR ORGANIZATION.

    (a) Determinations by Secretary of State.--Not later than 90 days 
after the date of the enactment of this Act, the Secretary of State 
shall submit to the appropriate congressional committees a 
determination, including a detailed justification, of whether the Badr 
Organization meets the criteria for--
            (1) designation as a foreign terrorist organization under 
        section 219 of the Immigration and Nationality Act (8 U.S.C. 
        1189); and
            (2) imposition of sanctions under section 1263 of the 
        Global Magnitsky Human Rights Accountability Act (subtitle F of 
        title XII of Public Law 114-328; 22 U.S.C. 2656 note).
    (b) Determination by Secretary of the Treasury.--Not later than 90 
days after the date of the enactment of this Act, the Secretary of the 
Treasury shall submit to the appropriate congressional committees a 
determination, including a detailed justification, or whether the Badr 
Organization meets the criteria for the imposition of sanctions under 
Executive Order 13224 (50 U.S.C. 1701 note; Relating to blocking 
property and prohibiting transactions with persons who commit, threaten 
to commit, or support terrorism).
    (c) Form.--The determinations required by subsections (a) and (b) 
shall be submitted in unclassified form, but may include a classified 
annex.

SEC. 5. PROHIBITION ON FUNDING TO SUPPORT THE BADR ORGANIZATION.

    Notwithstanding any other provision of law, no Federal department 
or agency, including the Department of State and the Department of 
Defense, may obligate or expend any Federal funds to support the Badr 
Organization.

SEC. 6. APPROPRIATE CONGRESSIONAL COMMITTEES DEFINED.

    In this Act, the term ``appropriate congressional committees'' 
means the Committee on Foreign Affairs of the House of Representatives 
and the Committee on Foreign Relations of the Senate.
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