Bill Summary
This legislation is a resolution passed by the House of Representatives in the United States, calling for the unconditional release of United States citizens and legal permanent resident aliens who are being held for political purposes by the Government of Iran. It lists specific cases of individuals who have been unjustly detained in Iran and urges the President to make their release a top priority. It also encourages the creation of a multinational task force to secure the release of these individuals and calls on the Government of Iran to cooperate in locating and returning a United States citizen who disappeared in Iran in 2007. The resolution also encourages the President to take action if the Government of Iran does not comply with these requests.
Possible Impacts
1. The legislation could potentially affect the families of those being held in Iran, as it calls for the unconditional release of their loved ones and urges the President to make their release a top priority.
2. The legislation could also affect the United States government, as it requests the establishment of a multinational task force to secure the release of the detainees and encourages the President to take action if the Government of Iran does not release them.
3. The legislation could also have an impact on the relationship between the United States and Iran, as it addresses the issue of hostage-taking and calls on the Government of Iran to fulfill its promises to assist in locating and returning Robert Levinson.
[Congressional Bills 116th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H. Res. 187 Introduced in House (IH)]
<DOC>
116th CONGRESS
1st Session
H. RES. 187
Calling for the unconditional release of United States citizens and
legal permanent resident aliens being held for political purposes by
the Government of Iran.
_______________________________________________________________________
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
March 7, 2019
Mr. Deutch (for himself, Mr. Wilson of South Carolina, Mrs. Lowey, Mr.
Smith of New Jersey, Mr. Engel, Mr. McCaul, Mr. Connolly, and Mr.
Chabot) submitted the following resolution; which was referred to the
Committee on Foreign Affairs
_______________________________________________________________________
RESOLUTION
Calling for the unconditional release of United States citizens and
legal permanent resident aliens being held for political purposes by
the Government of Iran.
Whereas Iran has taken as hostages several United States citizens, including
Siamak and Baquer Namazi and Xiyue Wang, as well as United States legal
permanent resident, Nizar Zakka, among others;
Whereas Siamak Namazi was detained on October 15, 2015, falsely accused, and
convicted on October 18, 2016, for ``collaborating with a hostile
government'' and has been held for extended periods in solitary
confinement and under constant interrogation;
Whereas former UNICEF official Baquer Namazi, the 80-year old father of Siamak
Namazi, was detained on February 22, 2016, falsely accused, and
sentenced to 10 years in prison for the same crime as his son;
Whereas former United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon urged Iranian
authorities to release Baquer Namazi, whose health status is
deteriorating, to allow his family to care for him;
Whereas UNICEF has issued four public statements on Baquer Namazi's behalf;
Whereas Xiyue Wang, a graduate student at Princeton University, was arrested in
Iran on or about August 7, 2016, while studying Farsi and researching
the late Qajar dynasty as background for his doctoral dissertation,
detained by Iran in Evin prison for almost a year, falsely charged with
espionage, and sentenced to 10 years in prison;
Whereas Robert Levinson, a United States citizen and retired agent of the
Federal Bureau of Investigation, traveled to Kish Island, Iran, and
disappeared on March 9, 2007;
Whereas the United States Government had ``secured a commitment from the
Iranians to try and gather information about Mr. Levinson's possible
whereabouts'' but has not received any information thus far;
Whereas, on November 23, 2016, the United Nations Working Group on Arbitrary
Detention concluded that Iran was responsible for the arbitrary
detention of Robert Levinson;
Whereas Nizar Zakka, a United States legal permanent resident alien and Lebanese
national, who is also in a weakened physical state, was unlawfully
detained on or about September 18, 2015, after presenting at a
conference in Iran at Iran's invitation, and was later falsely charged
with being a spy and sentenced to 10 years at the Evin prison;
Whereas, on April 13, 2017, the Department of the Treasury sanctioned the Tehran
Prisons Organization and its former head, Sohrab Soleimani, and White
House Press Secretary Sean Spicer noted ``The sanctions against human
rights abusers in Iran's prisons come at a time when Iran continues to
unjustly detain in its prisons various foreigners, including U.S.
citizens Siamak Namazi and Baquer Namazi'';
Whereas, on April 25, 2017, at the meeting of the Joint Commission overseeing
implementation of the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action, the Department
of State reported that the United States delegation had ``raised with
the Iranian delegation its serious concerns regarding the cases of U.S.
citizens detained and missing in Iran, and called on Iran to immediately
release these U.S. citizens so they can be reunited with their
families'';
Whereas, on July 21, 2017, the White House released a statement stating that
``President Donald J. Trump and his Administration are redoubling
efforts to bring home all Americans unjustly detained abroad, `and are'
prepared to impose new and serious consequences on Iran unless all
unjustly imprisoned American citizens are released and returned.'';
Whereas, on December 3, 2018, the families of Robert Levinson, Baquer and Siamak
Namazi, and Nizar Zakka joined with the families of other foreign
nationals held in Iran in sending an open letter to the international
community calling for the release of their family members;
Whereas according to Jason Rezaian, a former Washington Post Tehran
correspondent who was unjustly imprisoned in Iran for 544 days, hostage-
taking ``in recent years became a key tool of domestic influence for the
Revolutionary Guard''; and
Whereas Iranian media has reportedly quoted officials who have indicated that
the Government of Iran is seeking additional payments or other
concessions, including relief from economic sanctions, from the families
of hostages and their governments as a condition of release, a practice
banned by the 1979 International Convention Against the Taking of
Hostages and other international legal norms: Now, therefore, be it
Resolved, That the House of Representatives--
(1) calls on the Government of the Islamic Republic of Iran
to release unconditionally Siamak Namazi, Baquer Namazi, Xiyue
Wang, Nizar Zakka, and any other United States citizen, legal
permanent resident alien, or foreign national being unjustly
detained in Iran;
(2) urges the President to make the release of United
States citizens and legal permanent resident aliens held
hostage by the Government of Iran the highest of priorities;
(3) requests that the United States and its allies whose
nationals have been detained consider establishing a
multinational task force to secure the release of the
detainees;
(4) urges the Government of Iran to take meaningful steps
towards fulfilling its repeated promises to assist in locating
and returning Robert Levinson, including immediately providing
all available information from all entities of the Government
of Iran regarding the disappearance of Robert Levinson to the
United States Government;
(5) encourages the President to take meaningful action to
secure the release of Siamak Namazi, Baquer Namazi, Xiyue Wang,
Nizar Zakka, and any other United States citizen, legal
permanent resident alien, or foreign national being unjustly
detained in Iran if the Government of Iran does not release
such United States citizens, legal permanent resident aliens,
and foreign nationals; and
(6) encourages the President to take meaningful action to
secure the return of Robert Levinson if the Government of Iran
does not locate and return him.
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