Commemorating the 1-year anniversary of the death of Mahsa Amini and the subsequent protests in Iran.

Bill: 118-hres-695
Sponsor: full_name: Rep. Mace, Nancy [R-SC-1]
Introduced: 2023-09-18
Policy area: International Affairs
Latest action: action_date: 2023-09-18
text: Referred to the House Committee on Foreign Affairs.

Summaries:
action_date: 2023-09-18
action_desc: Introduced in House
text: <p>This resolution commemorates the anniversary of death of Mahsa Amini and the protesters killed or detained in Iran since September 2022. It also supports the rights of women and of all people in Iran, and calls on Iran to end repression and to release all those detained for exercising their rights to freedom of expression and peaceful assembly in connection with the protests.</p><p>(Mahsa Amini was a 22-year old Iranian woman who died in police custody on September 16, 2022, after reportedly being arrested for wearing her hijab too loosely.)</p>

tv_txt: IV 118th CONGRESS 1st Session H. RES. 695 IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES September 18, 2023 Ms. Mace (for herself and Ms. Jackson Lee ) submitted the following resolution; which was referred to the Committee on Foreign Affairs RESOLUTION Commemorating the 1-year anniversary of the death of Mahsa Amini and the subsequent protests in Iran.

Whereas, on September 16, 2022, 22-year-old Mahsa (Jina) Amini died in police custody after being detained by Iran’s morality police for allegedly wearing her hijab too loosely; Whereas Ms. Amini’s death sparked widespread protests across Iran and around the world against the mandatory wearing of the hijab and the repression of women’s rights more broadly under Iran’s clerical rule; Whereas women have been at the forefront of the 2022 protest movement in the wake of Mahsa Amini’s death, and authorities have been particularly keen to silence prominent female voices of conscience, including human rights lawyer Nasrin Sotoudeh, who was threatened with being returned to jail after speaking to and writing for international media outlets; Whereas Iran is now the top jailer of women writers globally, according to PEN America’s Freedom to Write Index, and in 2022, 16 out of 42 female writers jailed globally were held in Iran; Whereas women who have spoken out in support of the protests from jail have continued to face harassment, and in some cases, additional charges, including activist and writer Narges Mohammadi and poet and activist Golrokh Ebrahimi Iraee; Whereas the protest movement reflects the desires of millions of Iranians, especially women and youth, for greater freedom and gender equality; and Whereas over 500 protesters have been killed and over 19,000 arrested by security forces in violent crackdowns on demonstrations over the past year, according to human rights groups: Now, therefore, be it

That the House of Representatives— (1) commemorates Mahsa Amini and the countless protesters killed or detained since September 2022; (2) affirms its support for the rights of women and all people in Iran to freedom of expression, assembly, and access to information both online and offline; (3) calls on the Government of Iran to end its violence and repression against peaceful protesters; (4) urges the unconditional release of all those detained for exercising their rights to freedom of expression and peaceful assembly in connection with the protests; and (5) reaffirms the necessity of holding accountable those responsible for human rights violations related to the protests.