Title: Calling for the unconditional release of United States citizens and legal permanent resident aliens being held for political purposes by the Government of Iran.
Policy area: International Affairs

Summary:
This resolution calls on Iran to release detained U.S. citizens and other foreign nationals. The resolution urges the United States to make the release of such individuals a high priority.


[Congressional Bills 116th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H. Res. 187 Introduced in House (IH)]

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116th CONGRESS
  1st Session
H. RES. 187

  Calling for the unconditional release of United States citizens and 
 legal permanent resident aliens being held for political purposes by 
                        the Government of Iran.


_______________________________________________________________________


                    IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

                             March 7, 2019

Mr. Deutch (for himself, Mr. Wilson of South Carolina, Mrs. Lowey, Mr. 
   Smith of New Jersey, Mr. Engel, Mr. McCaul, Mr. Connolly, and Mr. 
 Chabot) submitted the following resolution; which was referred to the 
                      Committee on Foreign Affairs

_______________________________________________________________________

                               RESOLUTION


 
  Calling for the unconditional release of United States citizens and 
 legal permanent resident aliens being held for political purposes by 
                        the Government of Iran.

Whereas Iran has taken as hostages several United States citizens, including 
        Siamak and Baquer Namazi and Xiyue Wang, as well as United States legal 
        permanent resident, Nizar Zakka, among others;
Whereas Siamak Namazi was detained on October 15, 2015, falsely accused, and 
        convicted on October 18, 2016, for ``collaborating with a hostile 
        government'' and has been held for extended periods in solitary 
        confinement and under constant interrogation;
Whereas former UNICEF official Baquer Namazi, the 80-year old father of Siamak 
        Namazi, was detained on February 22, 2016, falsely accused, and 
        sentenced to 10 years in prison for the same crime as his son;
Whereas former United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon urged Iranian 
        authorities to release Baquer Namazi, whose health status is 
        deteriorating, to allow his family to care for him;
Whereas UNICEF has issued four public statements on Baquer Namazi's behalf;
Whereas Xiyue Wang, a graduate student at Princeton University, was arrested in 
        Iran on or about August 7, 2016, while studying Farsi and researching 
        the late Qajar dynasty as background for his doctoral dissertation, 
        detained by Iran in Evin prison for almost a year, falsely charged with 
        espionage, and sentenced to 10 years in prison;
Whereas Robert Levinson, a United States citizen and retired agent of the 
        Federal Bureau of Investigation, traveled to Kish Island, Iran, and 
        disappeared on March 9, 2007;
Whereas the United States Government had ``secured a commitment from the 
        Iranians to try and gather information about Mr. Levinson's possible 
        whereabouts'' but has not received any information thus far;
Whereas, on November 23, 2016, the United Nations Working Group on Arbitrary 
        Detention concluded that Iran was responsible for the arbitrary 
        detention of Robert Levinson;
Whereas Nizar Zakka, a United States legal permanent resident alien and Lebanese 
        national, who is also in a weakened physical state, was unlawfully 
        detained on or about September 18, 2015, after presenting at a 
        conference in Iran at Iran's invitation, and was later falsely charged 
        with being a spy and sentenced to 10 years at the Evin prison;
Whereas, on April 13, 2017, the Department of the Treasury sanctioned the Tehran 
        Prisons Organization and its former head, Sohrab Soleimani, and White 
        House Press Secretary Sean Spicer noted ``The sanctions against human 
        rights abusers in Iran's prisons come at a time when Iran continues to 
        unjustly detain in its prisons various foreigners, including U.S. 
        citizens Siamak Namazi and Baquer Namazi'';
Whereas, on April 25, 2017, at the meeting of the Joint Commission overseeing 
        implementation of the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action, the Department 
        of State reported that the United States delegation had ``raised with 
        the Iranian delegation its serious concerns regarding the cases of U.S. 
        citizens detained and missing in Iran, and called on Iran to immediately 
        release these U.S. citizens so they can be reunited with their 
        families'';
Whereas, on July 21, 2017, the White House released a statement stating that 
        ``President Donald J. Trump and his Administration are redoubling 
        efforts to bring home all Americans unjustly detained abroad, `and are' 
        prepared to impose new and serious consequences on Iran unless all 
        unjustly imprisoned American citizens are released and returned.'';
Whereas, on December 3, 2018, the families of Robert Levinson, Baquer and Siamak 
        Namazi, and Nizar Zakka joined with the families of other foreign 
        nationals held in Iran in sending an open letter to the international 
        community calling for the release of their family members;
Whereas according to Jason Rezaian, a former Washington Post Tehran 
        correspondent who was unjustly imprisoned in Iran for 544 days, hostage-
        taking ``in recent years became a key tool of domestic influence for the 
        Revolutionary Guard''; and
Whereas Iranian media has reportedly quoted officials who have indicated that 
        the Government of Iran is seeking additional payments or other 
        concessions, including relief from economic sanctions, from the families 
        of hostages and their governments as a condition of release, a practice 
        banned by the 1979 International Convention Against the Taking of 
        Hostages and other international legal norms: Now, therefore, be it
    Resolved, That the House of Representatives--
            (1) calls on the Government of the Islamic Republic of Iran 
        to release unconditionally Siamak Namazi, Baquer Namazi, Xiyue 
        Wang, Nizar Zakka, and any other United States citizen, legal 
        permanent resident alien, or foreign national being unjustly 
        detained in Iran;
            (2) urges the President to make the release of United 
        States citizens and legal permanent resident aliens held 
        hostage by the Government of Iran the highest of priorities;
            (3) requests that the United States and its allies whose 
        nationals have been detained consider establishing a 
        multinational task force to secure the release of the 
        detainees;
            (4) urges the Government of Iran to take meaningful steps 
        towards fulfilling its repeated promises to assist in locating 
        and returning Robert Levinson, including immediately providing 
        all available information from all entities of the Government 
        of Iran regarding the disappearance of Robert Levinson to the 
        United States Government;
            (5) encourages the President to take meaningful action to 
        secure the release of Siamak Namazi, Baquer Namazi, Xiyue Wang, 
        Nizar Zakka, and any other United States citizen, legal 
        permanent resident alien, or foreign national being unjustly 
        detained in Iran if the Government of Iran does not release 
        such United States citizens, legal permanent resident aliens, 
        and foreign nationals; and
            (6) encourages the President to take meaningful action to 
        secure the return of Robert Levinson if the Government of Iran 
        does not locate and return him.
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