Title: Condemning the Government of Iran's state-sponsored persecution of its Baha'i minority and its continued violation of' the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights.
Policy area: International Affairs

Summary:
This resolution condemns Iran's state-sponsored persecution of its Baha'i minority and its continued violation of the international covenants on human rights. Further, it calls on Iran to immediately release all imprisoned or detained Baha'is, and it urges the President and the Department of State to impose sanctions on Iranian officials and others who are responsible for serious human rights abuses, including abuses against Iran's Baha'i community.

[Congressional Bills 116th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H. Res. 823 Introduced in House (IH)]

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116th CONGRESS
  2d Session
H. RES. 823

Condemning the Government of Iran's state-sponsored persecution of its 
   Baha'i minority and its continued violation of the International 
                       Covenants on Human Rights.


_______________________________________________________________________


                    IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

                            January 30, 2020

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

_______________________________________________________________________

                               RESOLUTION


 
Condemning the Government of Iran's state-sponsored persecution of its 
   Baha'i minority and its continued violation of the International 
                       Covenants on Human Rights.

Whereas, in 1982, 1984, 1988, 1990, 1992, 1993, 1994, 1996, 2000, 2004, 2006, 
        2008, 2009, 2012, 2013, 2015, 2016, 2017, and 2018, Congress declared 
        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, 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 Islamic 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 misguided 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 investigated.'';

    (3) members of the Baha'i faith ``frequently face charges, such as, 
`breaching national security', `propaganda 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 arrested 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.''';

    (7) directed by a 2007 letter from the Security Unit of the Public 
Place Supervision Office of the Islamic Republic of Iran to police 
commanders throughout the country, Iranian authorities continue to apply 
economic pressure 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 incidents of violations 
of economic rights of the Baha'is, including 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 discrimination 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 Baha'is from access to higher education or 
expel them if their religious affiliation becomes known.'';

Whereas, on March 13, 2019, the Department of State released the Country Reports 
        on Human Rights Practices for 2018 and, in connection with Iran, the 
        report provides, in part--

    (1) Iranian authorities ``barred Baha'i students from higher 
education'', and in September 2018, denied enrollment 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-controlled areas of Yemen to harass and detain Baha'is because of 
their religious affiliation.'';

Whereas the 2019 Annual Report of the United States Commission 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 arrested 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 outside the town of 
Jaban.'';

Whereas the Baha'i International Community has documented more than 26,000 items 
        of anti-Baha'i hate propaganda in Iran's official and semi official 
        media since January 2014;
Whereas the Government of Iran is a party to the International 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 individuals ``responsible for or complicit in, or 
        responsible 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-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 religion;
                    (B) to end its state-sponsored campaign of hate 
                propaganda against the Baha'is; and
                    (C) to reverse state-imposed policies denying 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 immediately condemn 
        the Government of Iran's continued violation of human rights 
        and demand the immediate 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 sanctions 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.
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