Title: Condemning the murder of Alireza Fazeli Monfared and the practice of so-called "honor killings" in Iran, and for other purposes.
Policy area: International Affairs

Summary:
This resolution expresses the sense of the House of Representatives that the murder of Alireza Fazeli Monfared should be investigated and prosecuted and that the practice of honor killings in Iran is a violation of internationally recognized human rights. Further, it urges the Department of State to rebuke Iran for this practice and to condemn Iranian human rights abuses against vulnerable populations, including abuses based on sex, sexual orientation, and gender expression.

[Congressional Bills 117th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H. Res. 497 Introduced in House (IH)]

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117th CONGRESS
  1st Session
H. RES. 497

 Condemning the murder of Alireza Fazeli Monfared and the practice of 
     so-called ``honor killings'' in Iran, and for other purposes.


_______________________________________________________________________


                    IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

                             June 24, 2021

 Mr. Cicilline (for himself and Mrs. Kim of California) submitted the 
 following resolution; which was referred to the Committee on Foreign 
                                Affairs

_______________________________________________________________________

                               RESOLUTION


 
 Condemning the murder of Alireza Fazeli Monfared and the practice of 
     so-called ``honor killings'' in Iran, and for other purposes.

Whereas Alireza Fazeli Monfared, a 20-year-old citizen of Iran, reportedly was 
        brutally murdered by relatives on May 4, 2021, in a rural village near 
        Ahvaz, Iran;
Whereas Mr. Monfared's murder was reportedly perpetrated as an ``honor killing'' 
        because Mr. Monfared identified as a gay man;
Whereas the denial of fundamental freedoms and the equal protection of the law 
        on any basis, including sexual orientation, is contrary to international 
        human rights conventions, including the United Nations Charter and the 
        Universal Declaration of Human Rights;
Whereas Iran's failure to adequately dissuade the abhorrent practice of ``honor 
        killings'' has led to the murders of women, girls, and other vulnerable 
        populations deprived of agency and justice;
Whereas officials in Iran do not uniformly prosecute ``honor killings'' under 
        its qisas legal system and, when prosecutions do occur, penalties are 
        often significantly reduced, or prosecutions are dismissed at the 
        insistence of family members of the charged;
Whereas Iran does not publish official statistics on the number of suspected 
        ``honor killings'' thus likely severely undercounting the number of 
        instances in which these murders take place; and
Whereas Iran offers no public reports or statistics related to the prosecutions 
        of those responsible for ``honor killings'', leaving the illegality of 
        such killings unclear, and failing to provide accountability for 
        repeated instances of ``honor killings'' in the country: Now, therefore, 
        be it
    Resolved, That it is the sense of the House of Representatives 
that--
            (1) the murder of Mr. Alireza Fazali Monfared was an 
        abhorrent crime that should be thoroughly investigated and 
        fully prosecuted;
            (2) the practice of ``honor killings'' in Iran, which has 
        claimed the lives of women, girls, gay men, persons that 
        identify as transgender, and members of other vulnerable 
        populations, is a violation of internationally recognized human 
        rights; and
            (3) the Secretary of State, like-minded allied and partner 
        countries, and the United Nations should--
                    (A) publicly rebuke Iran for its failure to 
                comprehensively address the practice of ``honor 
                killings'';
                    (B) support independent efforts to document honor 
                killings and other human rights violations in Iran; and
                    (C) condemn Iranian human rights abuses against 
                vulnerable populations, including abuses based on sex, 
                sexual orientation, and gender expression.
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