[Congressional Bills 119th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[S. Res. 525 Introduced in Senate (IS)]
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119th CONGRESS
1st Session
S. RES. 525
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.
_______________________________________________________________________
IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES
December 3, 2025
Mr. Wyden (for himself, Mr. Boozman, Mr. Durbin, Mr. Hickenlooper, Mr.
Kaine, Ms. Cortez Masto, Mr. Van Hollen, Mr. Whitehouse, Mrs. Capito,
Mr. Merkley, Mr. Blumenthal, Mr. Booker, Ms. Rosen, Mr. Coons, Mr.
Welch, Ms. Warren, Ms. Hassan, Mrs. Fischer, Mr. Crapo, Mr. Murphy, and
Mrs. Shaheen) 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, 2022, and 2024,
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, 2025, marked the 42nd 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 17, 2024, the United Nations General Assembly adopted a
resolution (A/RES/79/183) criticizing Iran for human rights abuses and
calling on Iran to carry out wide-ranging reforms, including ending--
(1) ``in law and in practice, all forms of discrimination on the basis
of thought, conscience, religion, or belief, including restrictions
contained in article 499 bis and article 500 bis of the Islamic Penal
Code'';
(2) ``escalated discrimination and violence, as well as economic
restrictions, such as the closure, destruction or confiscation of
businesses, land and properties, the cancellation of licenses and the
denial of employment in certain public and private sectors, including
government or military positions and elected office, the denial of and
restrictions on access to education, including for members of the Baha'i
and other religious minorities, and other human rights violations against
persons belonging to recognized and unrecognized religious minorities'';
(3) ``ongoing severe limitations and increasing restrictions on the
right to freedom of thought, conscience, religion or belief, restrictions
on the establishment of places of worship, undue restrictions on burials
carried out in accordance with religious tenets''; and
(4) ``attacks against places of worship and burial and other human
rights violations, but not limited to 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 . . . in
particular, Baha'is'';
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] has targeted Baha'i women in particular,
including 10 arrested in Isfahan in October. Approximately two-thirds of
Iranian Baha'i prisoners are women, including Mahvash Sabet and Fariba
Kamalabadi, members of Iran's former Baha'i leadership (Yaran-e-Iran). Both
are serving a decade in prison after having previously served an identical
sentence in the early 2010s.''; and
(2) ``Authorities also targeted Baha'i cemeteries in Arak, Alborz, and
Golestan. 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, in response to a surge in persecution of Baha'i women by the Government
of Iran between 2022 and 2024, on July 31, 2024, 18 United Nations
Special Rapporteurs and United Nations Working Group experts released a
joint letter of allegations concerning the increase ``in the systematic
targeting of Baha'i women, including through arrests, summoning for
interrogation, enforced disappearance, raids on their homes and
confiscation of their personal belongings'' and reported that--
(1) ``Since early March 2024 alone, 72 of 93 Baha'is summoned to court
or prison, more than three-quarters, have been women.''; and
(2) ``Baha'i women face intersectional persecution: as women and as
members of the Baha'i religious minority. The escalation comes as Baha'i
women continue to be confronted with ongoing incidents of persecution faced
by all Baha'is, including denial of higher education and economic and
cultural restrictions, which spans their entire lives, impacting them
intellectually, socially and economically as they are banned from
university and public employment only for their faith.'';
Whereas the Iran section of the Department of State's 2023 Report on
International Religious Freedom issued in May 2024 provides, in part--
(1) ``Human Rights Activists News Agency (HRANA) said the majority of
human rights violations against religious minorities involved Baha'is (85
percent).'';
(2) ``The NGO Human Rights Without Frontiers (HRWF) reported more than
1,000 Baha'is were either imprisoned, in custody, under arrest, or waiting
for a hearing or to be summoned by a court.''; and
(3) ``A Ministry of Science, Research, and Technology order requires
universities to exclude Baha'is from access to higher education, or to
expel them if their religious affiliation becomes known.'';
Whereas, on April 1, 2024, Human Rights Watch issued a report titled, ```The
Boot on My Neck': Iranian Authorities' Crime of Persecution Against
Baha'is in Iran'', which detailed that--
(1) ``For the past four decades, the authorities' serial violations of
Baha'is' rights have continued, directed by the state's most senior
officials and the Islamic Republic's ideology, which holds extreme animus
against adherents of the Baha'i faith. While the intensity of violations
against Baha'is has varied over time, the authorities' persecution of
people who are members of this faith community has remained constant,
impacting virtually every aspect of Baha'is' private and public lives.'';
(2) ``The Islamic Republic's repression of Baha'is, particularly after
1979, is enshrined in Iranian law and is official government policy.''; and
(3) ``Human Rights Watch believes that the cumulative impact of
authorities' decades-long systematic repression is an intentional and
severe deprivation of Baha'is' fundamental rights and amounts to the crime
against humanity of persecution.'';
Whereas, on July 17, 2024, Mr. Javaid Rehman, the Special Rapporteur on the
situation of human rights in the Islamic Republic of Iran issued a
special report titled, ``Atrocity Crimes and grave violations of human
rights committed by the Islamic Republic of Iran (1981-1982 and 1988)'',
which concluded, ``Having considered the various submissions and the
available documentation and having examined the treatment meted out to
the Baha'i community in the early years of the Revolution, the Special
Rapporteur reports that Iranian authorities--with destructive, arguably
genocidal intent--engaged in killing or colluded in the killings of
members of the Baha'i community; Baha'is were physically and mentally
tortured simply because of their faith and members of the community
suffered from `serious bodily or mental harm.' They also faced
confiscation of their properties, expulsion from employment and denial
of education rights.'';
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
Resolved, 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.
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