[Congressional Bills 118th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H. Con. Res. 7 Referred in Senate (RFS)]
<DOC>
118th CONGRESS
1st Session
H. CON. RES. 7
_______________________________________________________________________
IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES
January 26, 2023
Received; referred to the Committee on Foreign Relations
_______________________________________________________________________
CONCURRENT RESOLUTION
Condemning the Iranian regime's human rights abuses against the brave
women and men of Iran peacefully demonstrating in more than 133 cities.
Whereas, on September 16, 2022, 22-year-old Mahsa Amini passed away in the
custody of Iranian ``morality police'' following a 3-day coma due to
wounds, including bone fracture, hemorrhage, and cerebral edema
consistent with severe beating, inflicted by the police for purportedly
wearing a hijab improperly;
Whereas, on September 16, Iranians gathered in the streets of Tehran to protest
the killing of Mahsa Amini;
Whereas demonstrations have since spread to more than 133 cities and 130
universities in Iran, where women are removing or burning hijabs,
cutting their hair, and dancing in front of Iranian security forces,
joined by their fellow Iranian citizens;
Whereas Iranian security forces have responded to such demonstrations with
violence and detentions, including detentions of journalists and
activists for covering the protests;
Whereas the security forces have reportedly killed more than 450 protestors,
including at least 58 children; however, the number of injuries and
deaths is likely higher but unobtainable due to internet blackouts;
Whereas at least 18,000 Iranians have been arrested across Iran according to
official sources, and many thousands more have been detained according
to independent reports;
Whereas videos, images, and demonstrations have spread to social media platforms
and are an important way for the voices of the Iranian people to be
heard;
Whereas internet monitoring groups have reported that the Iranian regime has--
(1) caused near-total disruption of internet connectivity in parts of
Iran and partial disruptions in city centers; and
(2) blocked WhatsApp, Twitter, Telegram, Facebook, Instagram, and video
games with chat functions;
Whereas common protest chants include--
(1) ``Women, life, and freedom!'';
(2) ``Iranians die but will not be suppressed!''; and
(3) ``Death to the dictator Ayatollah Ali Khamenei!'';
Whereas the Iranian regime has a long history of structural and legal
discrimination against women, including barriers for women seeking
justice against domestic violence and criminal prohibitions against
women singing or showing hair in public and studying certain technical
subjects;
Whereas the Iranian regime approved of ``depriving one social right or more''
for any woman who posts an unveiled picture of herself on social media,
and, in August 2022, approved of enforcing mandatory hijab laws through
facial recognition;
Whereas, through misogynistic criminal statutes, the Iranian regime for decades
has detained and engaged in the ongoing persecution of women,
including--
(1) Saba Kord Afshari, who was sentenced to 15 years in prison for
posting videos to social media without a hijab and transferred into Ward 6
of the notorious Qarchak Women's Prison, identified by the Secretary of the
Treasury for gross violations of human rights;
(2) Yasaman Aryani, her mother Monireh Arabshahi, and Mojgan Keshavarz,
who were sentenced to serve five and a half years in prison for posting a
video for International Women's Day in 2019, during which they walked
without headscarves through a metro train in Tehran, handing flowers to
female passengers;
(3) human rights attorney Nasrin Sotoudeh, who was sentenced in 2019 to
38 years in prison and 148 lashes for providing legal defense services to
women charged with not wearing a hijab;
(4) Narges Mohammadi, a prominent rights advocate, who--
G (A) was arrested in November 2021 on the second anniversary of
countrywide protests and is currently serving a 2-year sentence in prison;
G (B) was handed a further sentence of 15 months imprisonment for
``propaganda against the state''; and
G (C) previously, had been sentenced to 10 years in prison in May
2015 for ``establishing an illegal group'', ``assembly and collusion to act
against national security'', and ``propaganda against the state'';
(5) former Vice President for Women and Family Affairs Shahindokht
Molaverdi, who was charged with encouraging ``corruption, prostitution, and
sexual deviance'', a common charge against women refusing mandatory hijab
laws, and sentenced in December 2020 to 30 months in prison for defending
the right of women to attend sporting events and criticizing the practice
of child marriage;
(6) six women who were sentenced by the Culture and Media Court of
Tehran in July 2022 to each serve 1 year in prison for the offense of
singing songs in public;
(7) Niloofar Hamedi, one of the first Iranian journalists to report on
Mahsa Amini's death, who was arrested on September 22, 2022, and is being
held in solitary confinement; and
(8) countless other women; and
Whereas peaceful protests in Iran over the last year have focused on grievances
that include--
(1) mismanagement of the economy and national resources;
(2) prioritization of funding for terror groups and pariah regimes over
social services for the people of Iran; and
(3) widespread political corruption: Now, therefore, be it
Resolved by the House of Representatives (the Senate concurring),
That Congress--
(1) condemns--
(A) the brutal beating and death of Mahsa Amini;
and
(B) the violent suppression by the Iranian regime
of women and men participating in the current
demonstrations, including children, and calls for
transparent accountability for all killings of
protesters by Iranian security forces;
(2) supports the women and men of Iran who are--
(A) participating in the current protests to defend
their fundamental human rights; and
(B) risking their safety to speak out against the
human rights abuses committed by the Iranian regime;
(3) supports internet freedom programs that circumvent the
regime and provide support for VPNs and other alternatives that
can be used to bypass attempts by authoritarian governments to
censor internet access during times of protest, and commends
private entities willing to provide programs to circumvent such
censorship;
(4) encourages continued efforts by the Biden
Administration to respond to the protests, including the recent
sanctioning of the Iranian morality police, and further
encourages the Biden Administration--
(A) to immediately impose, under existing
authorities, additional human rights sanctions on
officials and entities responsible for the repression
of the current protests;
(B) to prioritize efforts to expand unrestricted
internet access in Iran, consistent with existing law;
and
(C) to work to develop a strategy to prevent the
Iranian regime from obtaining and exploiting facial
recognition data and software for the use of mass
surveillance and enforcement of mandatory hijab;
(5) encourages the private sector, following the recent
clarification by the Biden Administration of sanctions
exemptions on communications technology, to work with the Biden
Administration to ensure protestors and activists have access
to tools needed to circumvent government surveillance and
repression; and
(6) welcomes the efforts of the international community to
support protestors in Iran, and calls on the international
community--
(A) to publicly condemn violence by the Iranian
regime against peaceful protesters;
(B) to speak out against violations by the regime
of fundamental human rights, including the freedom of
expression, assembly, and redress of grievances of the
Iranian people; and
(C) to impose human rights sanctions on officials
and entities that are responsible for the repression of
current protests and involved in violating the human
rights of the Iranian people.
Passed the House of Representatives January 25, 2023.
Attest:
CHERYL L. JOHNSON,
Clerk.