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

Bill: 118-sres-74
Sponsor: full_name: Sen. Wyden, Ron [D-OR]
Introduced: 2023-02-16
Policy area: International Affairs
Subjects: Detention of persons

Diplomacy, foreign officials, Americans abroad

Due process and equal protection

Higher education

Human rights

Iran

Middle East

Presidents and presidential powers, Vice Presidents

Religion

Sanctions

Sovereignty, recognition, national governance and status
Latest action: action_date: 2024-12-11
text: Star Print ordered on the resolution.

Summaries:
action_date: 2023-02-16
action_desc: Introduced in Senate
text: <p>This resolution condemns Iran's state-sponsored persecution of the Baha'i religious minority and Iran's continued violation of international human rights treaties. The resolution calls on Iran to (1) immediately release Baha'is and others imprisoned or detained solely on account of religion, (2) end its state-sponsored campaign of hate propaganda against the Baha'is, and (3) reverse certain policies that discriminate against Baha'is and other religious minorities. The resolution also 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.</p>

tv_txt: III 118th CONGRESS 2d Session S. RES. 74 IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES February 16, 2023 Mr. Wyden (for himself, Mr. Rubio , Mr. Durbin , Mr. Boozman , Mr. Whitehouse , Mrs. Feinstein , Mr. Kelly , Mr. Hickenlooper , Ms. Rosen , Ms. Hirono , Ms. Sinema , Mr. Cardin , Mrs. Shaheen , Mr. Warnock , Ms. Hassan , Mr. Murphy , Mr. Merkley , Mr. Blumenthal , Mr. Kaine , Mr. Coons , Mr. Welch , Mr. Braun , Mrs. Capito , Mr. Van Hollen , Mrs. Fischer , Ms. Collins , Ms. Baldwin , Ms. Warren , Mr. Padilla , Mr. Lankford , Mrs. Gillibrand , Mr. Booker , Mr. Ossoff , Mr. Hoeven , Ms. Butler , Ms. Cortez Masto , Mr. Crapo , and Mr. Reed ) submitted the following resolution; which was referred to the Committee on Foreign Relations December 5, 2024 Committee discharged; considered and agreed to with an amended preamble RESOLUTION Condemning the Government of Iran’s state-sponsored persecution of the 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, 2018, 2020, and 2022, 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, Iranian authorities have killed or executed more than 200 Baha’i leaders and more than 10,000 Baha’is have been dismissed from government and university jobs; Whereas June 18, 2023, marked the 40th anniversary of the execution of 10 Baha’i women by the Government of Iran, each witnessing the hanging of those hanged before her in a final failed attempt to induce abandonment of their faith after over 6 months of imprisonment and violent abuse, with the youngest only 17 years old; Whereas, on December 19, 2023, the United Nations General Assembly adopted a resolution (A/C.3/78/L.41) calling on Iran to carry out wide-ranging reforms and expressing serious concerns for its escalating human rights abuses, including— (1) severe limitations and increasing restrictions on the right to freedom of thought, conscience, religion, or belief ; (2) restrictions on the establishment of places of worship, undue restrictions on burials carried out in accordance with religious tenets, attacks against places of worship and burial ; (3) increased harassment, intimidation, persecution, arbitrary arrest, and detention of, and incitement to hatred that leads to violence against, persons belonging to recognized and unrecognized religious minorities, including Christians (particularly converts from Islam), Gonabadi Dervishes, Jews, Sufi Muslims, Sunni Muslims, Yarsanis, Zoroastrians, and in particular, Baha’is ; (4) denial of and restrictions on access to education, including for members of the Baha’i faith ; and (5) particular persecution of members of the Baha’i community who have been subjected to a continued increase in persecution, including attacks, harassment and targeting . . . on account of their faith and have been reportedly subjected to mass arrests and lengthy prison sentences, as well as the arrest of prominent members and increased confiscation and destruction of property ; Whereas, in the 2024 Annual Report of the United States Commission on International Religious Freedom issued in May 2024, it is reported that in 2023— (1) the Government of Iran conducted individual and mass arrests of Baha’is across Iran taking them to undisclosed locations and imposing excessively long prison sentences ; (2) security officials beat and brutalized Baha’is during raids and searches of private homes ; (3) security forces arrested scores of Baha’is in cities including Hamadan, Mehrshahr, Yazd, Karaj, Alborz, and Tehran ; (4) the government has targeted Baha’i women in particular and that [a]pproximately two-thirds of Iranian Baha’i prisoners are women ; (5) authorities targeted Baha’i cemeteries in Arak, Alborz, and Golestan ; and (6) local municipalities seized and confiscated Baha’i land, restricted Baha’i access to burial grounds, and declared intentions to sell Baha’i-owned property exclusively to Muslims. ; Whereas the Iran section of the Department of State’s 2022 Report on International Religious Freedom issued in May 2023 provides, in part— (1) [I]n July and August, security forces in cities across the country conducted multiple raids of Baha’i homes, confiscated property deemed illegitimate wealth , and arrested Baha’is in their homes or workplaces on unsubstantiated charges including causing intellectual and ideological insecurity in Muslim society. ; (2) Authorities reportedly continued to deny members of unrecognized religious minority groups access to education and government employment unless they declared themselves as belonging to one of the country’s recognized religions on their application forms. UN experts reported universities rejected more than 90 Baha’i students between January and August. ; and (3) Government officials and government-affiliated organizations continued to disseminate anti-Baha’i and antisemitic messages using traditional and social media. ; Whereas, in response to a surge in persecution in June and July 2022, involving the subjection of over 100 Baha’is to arrests, arraignments, sentencing, and raids on their homes and businesses across Iran, including the sentencing in June of 26 individuals in the city of Shiraz to a combined total of 85 years in prison, the Department of State’s Office of International Religious Freedom issued a statement on August 2, 2022, indicating that [a]mid a continued rise in arrests, sentences, and imprisonments, the U.S. urges Iran to halt its ongoing oppression of the Baha’i community and honor its international obligations to respect the right of all Iranians to freedom of religion or belief ; Whereas, on November 21, 2022, Mahvash Sabet and Fariba Kamalabadi, 2 former members of the informal 7-person leadership group of the Baha’is of Iran, who each served 10-year sentences from 2008 to 2018, and have been detained since July 31, 2022, in Evin prison, were sentenced to 10 years in prison each after a summary trial lasting 1 hour; Whereas, on December 11, 2022, the Baha’i International Community organization stated that Dr. Shirin Ebadi, the Nobel laureate and defence lawyer for Mahvash and Fariba during their first trial, said in 2008 that not a shred of evidence was offered to prove the national security charges or other allegations. Nor was any new evidence forthcoming at this latest trial ; Whereas, on January 12, 2024, the Baha’i International Community organization reported increasing incidents of persecution accompanied by intensified violence perpetrated against the Baha’i community by the Government of Iran, for example— (1) since the beginning of October [2023] more than 200 incidents of persecution, including over 50 arrests and imprisonments, have occurred in various cities such as Shiraz, Yazd, Isfahan, Hamadan, and Karaj ; (2) government agents have perpetrated increasingly violent home raids, disproportionately affecting women and the elderly, and have even resulted in hospitalizations and traumatic separations of mothers from their children. Notably, over two-thirds of those arrested and detained have been women, predominantly in their twenties and thirties, highlighting the escalation of attacks against women in recent months. ; and (3) government agents have instigated a conspicuous rise in hate speech, where Baha’is have been accused of being behind the September 2022 protests, promoting permissiveness, being against Islam and Shiism, being spies for Israel and the West, and being part of a political movement that seeks to undermine the state ; Whereas Iran is a member of the United Nations and a signatory to both the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, among other international human rights treaties, without reservation; 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 who are 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

That the Senate— (1) condemns the Government of Iran’s state-sponsored persecution of the Baha’i minority in Iran and the continued violation of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights; (2) calls on the Government of Iran— (A) to immediately release the imprisoned or detained Baha’is and 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 Baha’is and members of other religious minorities 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.

tv_txt: III 118th CONGRESS 1st Session S. RES. 74 IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES February 16, 2023 Mr. Wyden (for himself, Mr. Rubio , Mr. Durbin , Mr. Boozman , Mr. Whitehouse , Mrs. Feinstein , Mr. Kelly , Mr. Hickenlooper , Ms. Rosen , Ms. Hirono , Ms. Sinema , Mr. Cardin , Mrs. Shaheen , Mr. Warnock , Ms. Hassan , Mr. Murphy , Mr. Merkley , Mr. Blumenthal , Mr. Kaine , Mr. Coons , Mr. Welch , Mr. Braun , Mrs. Capito , and Mr. Van Hollen ) submitted the following resolution; which was referred to the Committee on Foreign Relations RESOLUTION Condemning the Government of Iran’s state-sponsored persecution of the 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, 2018, 2020, and 2022, 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, Iranian authorities have killed or executed more than 200 Baha’i leaders, and more than 10,000 Baha'is have been dismissed from government and university jobs; Whereas, on December 15, 2022, the United Nations General Assembly adopted a resolution (A/C.3/77/L.34) criticizing Iran for human rights abuses and calling on Iran to carry out wide-ranging reforms, including— (1) to end its continuing disregard for protections under Iranian law or internationally recognized safeguards relating to the imposition of the death penalty and to commute the sentences for child offenders on death row ; (2) to ensure, in law and in practice, that no one is subjected to torture or other cruel, inhumane or degrading treatment ; (3) to cease the widespread and systematic use of arbitrary arrests and detention ; (4) to release persons detained for the exercise of their human rights and fundamental freedoms ; (5) to address the poor conditions of prisons ; (6) to eliminate, in law and in practice, all forms of systemic discrimination and other human rights violations against women and girls ; (7) to cease the increased harassment, intimidation, persecution, arbitrary arrest and detention of, and incitement to hatred that leads to violence against, persons belonging to recognized and unrecognized religious minorities, including Christians (particularly converts from Islam), Gonabadi Dervishes, Jews, Sufi Muslims, Sunni Muslims, Yarsanis, Zoroastrians, and, in particular, Baha’is, who have been subjected to a sudden increase in persecution, who have faced increasing restrictions and systemic persecution by the Government of the Islamic Republic of Iran on account of their faith and have been reportedly subjected to mass arrests and lengthy prison sentences, as well as the arrest of prominent members and increased confiscation and destruction of property ; and (8) to release all religious practitioners imprisoned for their membership in or activities on behalf of a minority religious group, to cease the desecration of cemeteries and to ensure that everyone has the right to freedom of thought, conscience and religion or belief ; Whereas, in the 2022 Annual Report of the United States Commission on International Religious Freedom issued in April 2022, it is reported that— (1) the Government of Iran arrested scores of Baha’is across Iran , many of whom were held incommunicado or taken to undisclosed locations ; (2) Iranian universities continued to deny education to Baha’is on account of their faith ; (3) government agents closed six Baha’i businesses ; (4) government officials demolished the homes of three Baha’is without warning ; and (5) the Government of Iran announced the auction of thirteen Baha’i farms ; Whereas the Iran section of the Department of State’s 2021 Report on International Religious Freedom issued in June 2022 provides, in part— (1) Authorities continued to confiscate Baha’i properties as part of an ongoing state-led campaign of economic persecution against Baha’is. ; (2) Authorities reportedly continued to deny the Baha’i, Sabean-Mandaean, and Yarsani religious communities, as well as members of other unrecognized religious minorities, access to education and government employment unless they declared themselves as belonging to one of the country’s recognized religions on their application forms. ; and (3) Government officials continued to disseminate anti-Baha’i and antisemitic messages using traditional and social media. ; Whereas, in response to a surge in persecution in June and July 2022, involving the subjection of over 100 Baha’is to arrests, arraignments, sentencing, and raids on their homes and businesses across Iran, including the sentencing in June of 26 individuals in the city of Shiraz to a combined total of 85 years in prison, the Department of State's Office of International Religious Freedom issued a statement on August 2, 2022, indicating that [a]mid a continued rise in arrests, sentences, and imprisonments, the U.S. urges Iran to halt its ongoing oppression of the Baha’i community and honor its international obligations to respect the right of all Iranians to freedom of religion or belief ; Whereas, on November 21, 2022, Mahvash Sabet and Fariba Kamalabadi, 2 former members of the informal 7-person leadership group of the Baha’is of Iran, who each served 10-year sentences from 2008 to 2018 and have been detained since July 31, 2022, in Evin prison, were sentenced to 10 years in prison each after a summary trial lasting 1 hour; Whereas, on December 11, 2022, the Baha’i International Community organization stated that Dr. Shirin Ebadi, the Nobel laureate and defence lawyer for Mahvash and Fariba during their first trial, said in 2008 that not a shred of evidence was offered to prove the national security charges or other allegations. Nor was any new evidence forthcoming at this latest trial ; Whereas, on December 11, 2022, the Baha’i International Community organization reported, More than 320 Baha’is have been affected by individual acts of persecution since the arrest of Mahvash and Fariba. Dozens were arrested at various points in Shiraz, across Mazandaran province, and elsewhere throughout the country. Homes owned by Baha’is in the village of Roshankouh were demolished. Government plans to tar the Baha’is through hate speech and propaganda were also exposed. And at least 90 Baha’is are currently in prison or subject to degrading ankle-band monitoring. ; Whereas Iran is a member of the United Nations and a signatory to both the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, among other international human rights treaties, without reservation; 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 who are 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

That the Senate— (1) condemns the Government of Iran’s state-sponsored persecution of the Baha’i minority in Iran and the continued violation of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights; (2) calls on the Government of Iran— (A) to immediately release the imprisoned or detained Baha’is and 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 Baha’is and members of other religious minorities 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.