[Congressional Bills 119th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[S. Res. 145 Introduced in Senate (IS)]
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119th CONGRESS
1st Session
S. RES. 145
Protecting the Iranian political refugees, including female former
political prisoners, in Ashraf-3 in Albania.
_______________________________________________________________________
IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES
March 27, 2025
Mr. Tillis (for himself, Mr. Warnock, Mr. Cornyn, Mr. Blumenthal, Mr.
Cruz, Mr. Peters, Mr. Daines, Mrs. Shaheen, Mr. Grassley, Mr. Gallego,
Mr. Boozman, Mr. Booker, Mr. Coons, and Mr. Markey) submitted the
following resolution; which was referred to the Committee on Foreign
Relations
_______________________________________________________________________
RESOLUTION
Protecting the Iranian political refugees, including female former
political prisoners, in Ashraf-3 in Albania.
Whereas, since October 2023, the Iranian regime has increasingly acted as the
epicenter of terrorism in the region, from supporting proxies that
vehemently oppose peace in the Middle East, to threatening commercial
shipping and free trade in the Red Sea and from targeting American
forces in the region, to providing missile and drones to rogue actors,
all of which pose serious risks to regional peace and security and
endanger the vital interests of the United States;
Whereas the downfall of dictator Bashar al-Assad--a key ally of the Iranian
regime--exposes, but does not diminish, Iran's role as the primary
malign actor in the region as it continues to adapt its destabilizing
tactics through proxies and illicit influence, and the regime's efforts
to sow chaos, undermine regional stability, and threaten United States
and allied interests persist and may evolve in unexpected and dangerous
way that will demand unwavering vigilance and decisive action to counter
their aggression which thwarts movement toward peace and stability in
the region;
Whereas Iran remains the world's leading state sponsor of terrorism today;
Whereas the Iranian people have rejected the regime ruling Iran through several
rounds of major demonstrations, engulfing all 31 provinces of Iran
calling for change;
Whereas the Iranian regime has resorted to killing, torture, sexual violence,
and imprisonment of protesters, and several thousand protesters since
2017 have been killed, and many more have been imprisoned;
Whereas, in the first 4 months of Masoud Pezeshkian's presidency, the judiciary
of the Iranian regime has executed over 500 prisoners, including
political prisoners and at least 17 women, sometimes publicly, and has
increased the use of hand amputation as punishment;
Whereas the Iranian regime has been intent on eliminating the Iranian political
refugees who survived Tehran's repression and were first based in Camp
Ashraf, Iraq, in the mid-1980s;
Whereas, starting in 2012, the United States Government and the United Nations
initiated the relocation of nearly 3,000 Iranian dissidents from Camp
Ashraf, Iraq, where they were repeatedly attacked by the Iranian
regime's proxies, and facilitated their gradual relocation in 2013,
2014, and 2015 to Albania;
Whereas the relocation of these Iranian political refugees to Albania from Iraq
was completed in September 2016, and the refugees, a third of them
women, are now residing in Ashraf-3 near Tirana in Albania;
Whereas, on April 19, 2016, before the relocation of the majority of the
residents to Albania, in a letter to a European Parliament Vice-
President, the Prime Minister of Albania wrote, ``Albania is fully
engaged and committed to ensure for the Iranian refugees all rights
stipulated in the Geneva Convention 1951, in the European Human Rights
Convention and in the whole international legislation.'';
Whereas over 900 women and men of Ashraf-3 are former political prisoners who
endured torture while in prisons and many of them are witnesses of the
1988 massacre of political prisoners and other political killings in
Iran, among them eyewitnesses of crimes committed by Ebrahim Raisi;
Whereas these witnesses must be fully protected for potential testimonies before
international courts investigating the 1988 massacre and other grave
human rights violations in Iran;
Whereas, in November 2021, the Swedish Judiciary moved the whole court in
Stockholm to Albania for 2 weeks to facilitate hearing testimonies of 7
former Iranian political prisoners now residing in Ashraf-3, whose
testimony was characterized as critical for a trial related to the 1988
massacre;
Whereas, in December 2023, a Swedish court confirmed the earlier ruling by the
lower court of a life sentence for Hamid Noury, implicated in the 1988
massacre where he was an official in Gohardasht Prison;
Whereas the Iranian regime has stepped up terrorist attacks against its
opponents and has used blackmail, terror threats, hostage-taking, sham
judicial proceedings, and other means of intimidation against western
nations to compel them to silence Iranian opponents living abroad;
Whereas, on several occasions, including in the last week of December 2023, the
Iranian regime carried out large-scale cyberattacks against Albania to
pressure the Government of Albania to undermine or end its hosting of
Iranian political refugees;
Whereas experience has shown that any lack of decisiveness or concessions to
Tehran only emboldens the Iranian regime for its destructive actions;
Whereas the Iranian regime has, over the past few months, stepped up threats
against Ashraf-3, and given what the regime has done since October 7,
2023, far more vigilance on the part of the United States is required to
ensure the complete protection and rights of Ashraf-3 residents in
Albania;
Whereas, on December 12, 2023, the Iranian regime started sham trials in
absentia for 104 veteran members of the Iranian Resistance, who, since
years ago, have been primarily based in Europe, including in Albania, to
create a phony legal precedent against them and secure their extradition
to Iran by misusing INTERPOL Red Notices, impose limitations, or set the
stage for terror attacks against them;
Whereas the Iranian regime is doing its utmost through any means to prevent
Ashraf-3 residents from speaking up against the regime;
Whereas the leadership role of women in Ashraf-3 has doubly heightened the
Iranian regime's misogynous hysteria against the political refugees in
Ashraf-3;
Whereas over 4,000 parliamentarians around the world and 130 former world
leaders have expressed their support for Mrs. Maryam Rajavi's Ten-Point
Plan for the Future of Iran, which calls for the universal right to
vote, free elections, a market economy, separation of religion and
state, and advocates for gender, religious, and ethnic equality, a
foreign policy based on peaceful coexistence, peace in the Middle East,
and a nonnuclear republic Iran; and
Whereas, in sharp contrast to Iran's institutionalized misogyny, this Ten-Point
platform has adequately addressed women's equality, including ``complete
gender equality in the realms of political, social, cultural and
economic rights. An equal participation of women in political
leadership, abolishment of any form of discrimination. The right to
choose one's own clothing freely, the right to freely marry and divorce,
and to obtain education and employment. Prohibition of all forms of
exploitation against women under any pretext.'': Now, therefore, be it
Resolved, That it is the sense of the Senate that--
(1) the Iranian political refugees in Ashraf-3, in
rejection of the Iranian regime's demands, must be afforded
their fundamental rights of freedom of expression and assembly
and legal political activities in Albania;
(2) the United States Government condemns the Iranian
regime's threats and nefarious actions against the Government
of Albania, including cyberattacks and threats against the
Iranian dissidents in Ashraf-3 in Albania;
(3) the United States Government should take prompt and
appropriate steps in accordance with international law,
including the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, the
International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, the
European Convention on Human Rights, and the 1951 Convention
Relating to the Status of Refugees, to help the Government of
Albania ensure and uphold all fundamental rights of Ashraf-3
residents within the framework of the above conventions,
including the right to life, liberty, security, protection of
property, and freedom of expression and assembly;
(4) the United States Government strongly opposes Iran's
misuse of the INTERPOL Red Notices to impose restrictions or
limitations or set in motion the extradition of Iranian
dissidents to Iran; and
(5) the United States Government must continue close and
regular cooperation with the Government of Albania and the
residents of Ashraf-3 to ensure the complete protection and
fundamental rights of Ashraf-3 residents.
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