[Congressional Bills 116th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[S. Res. 539 Introduced in Senate (IS)]

<DOC>






116th CONGRESS
  2d Session
S. RES. 539

Supporting the rights of the people of Iran to determine their future, 
condemning the Iranian regime for its crackdown on legitimate protests, 
                        and for other purposes.


_______________________________________________________________________


                   IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES

                             March 11, 2020

   Mr. Cardin (for himself, Mrs. Shaheen, Mr. Kaine, and Ms. Rosen) 
submitted the following resolution; which was referred to the Committee 
                          on Foreign Relations

_______________________________________________________________________

                               RESOLUTION


 
Supporting the rights of the people of Iran to determine their future, 
condemning the Iranian regime for its crackdown on legitimate protests, 
                        and for other purposes.

Whereas, on January 8, 2020, the Government of Iran shot down Ukraine 
        International Airlines Flight 752, lied about its culpability, and then 
        admitted to downing the plane on January 11 after evidence was made 
        public by other sources;
Whereas all 167 passengers and 9 crewmembers aboard Ukraine International 
        Airlines Flight 752 died in the resulting crash;
Whereas passengers were mostly citizens of Iran, but also included citizens of 
        Canada, Ukraine, Great Britain, Afghanistan, and Sweden;
Whereas, during January 11 through 13, 2020, protesters gathered across Iran to 
        denounce lying and incompetence by regime leadership with respect to the 
        airline shootdown;
Whereas video clips of protests from January 11 through 13, 2020, showed 
        protestors chanting against Iran's Supreme Leader Ali Khamene'i and the 
        IRGC;
Whereas video clips suggest Iranian authorities deployed tear gas and live 
        ammunition against protestors in January 2020;
Whereas earlier antigovernment protests in Iran began on November 15, 2019, and 
        rapidly spread to dozens of Iranian cities in 29 of Iran's 31 provinces, 
        in the most significant antigovernment protests in Iran since the Green 
        Movement demonstrations in 2009 and 2010;
Whereas the protests began in response to an announced increase on the price of 
        fuel, and protesters expressed numerous economic grievances, while also 
        calling for the structural reform of the political system and condemning 
        current and former Iranian leaders;
Whereas reports indicate that Iranian security forces responded to protests with 
        lethal force, killing hundreds of demonstrators and arresting thousands 
        more;
Whereas reports indicate that the Government of Iran authorities have, in many 
        instances, refused to return victims' bodies to their families and that 
        security forces have removed bodies from morgues and transferred them to 
        unknown locations;
Whereas, on November 16, 2019, Iranian authorities began implementing a near-
        total shutdown of internet services, stopping nearly all means of online 
        communications for people inside Iran to prevent the sharing of images 
        and videos of deadly violence being used by security forces;
Whereas, on November 16, 2019, Iran's Interior Minister Abdolreza Rahmani Fazli 
        suggested that the Iranian regime would no longer show ``tolerance'' 
        toward the protesters;
Whereas, on November 17, 2019, Iranian Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamene'i 
        called the demonstrators ``villains'', suggested that protests were 
        incited by foreign enemies and domestic insurgents, and ordered Iranian 
        security services to ``implement their duties'' to end the protests;
Whereas, on November 18, 2019, the IRGC deployed to the southwestern city of 
        Mahshahr, which had been taken over by demonstrators, and engaged in 
        mass repression over a period of 4 days, reportedly killing as many as 
        100 people;
Whereas multiple United States laws provide authorities to designate and 
        sanction elements of the Iranian regime for its repressive conduct, 
        including those involved in significant corruption or serious human 
        rights abuses, including--

    (1) the Comprehensive Iran Sanctions, Accountability, and Divestment 
Act of 2010 (22 U.S.C. 8501 et seq.);

    (2) the Iran Threat Reduction and Syria Human Rights Act of 2012 (22 
U.S.C. 8701 et seq.);

    (3) the Countering Iran's Destabilizing Activities Act of 2017 (22 
U.S.C. 9401 et seq.); and

    (4) the Global Magnitsky Human Rights Accountability Act (subtitle F of 
title XII of Public Law 114-328; 22 U.S.C. 2656 note);

Whereas the Iranian regime was implicated in a terrorist plot targeting 
        gatherings of Iranian dissidents in Paris in June 2018 and in Albania in 
        March 2018;
Whereas, in August 2018, the United States Government arrested 2 Iranian 
        nationals who later pleaded guilty for acting on behalf of the Iranian 
        regime to conduct covert surveillance in the United States against 
        officials of the Iranian opposition for a target package which, 
        according to the Department of Justice complaint, may have included 
        ``apprehension, recruitment, cyber exploitation, or capture/kill 
        operations'';
Whereas the Iranian regime has routinely violated the human rights of Iranian 
        citizens, including by implementing ongoing, systematic, and serious 
        restrictions of freedom of peaceful assembly and association and freedom 
        of opinion and expression, including the continuing closures of media 
        outlets, arrests of journalists, and the censorship of expression in 
        online forums such as blogs and websites;
Whereas, on November 22, 2019, the United States imposed sanctions on Iran's 
        Minister of Information and Communications Technology for his role in 
        shutting down internet access in Iran;
Whereas the Department of State's most current Human Rights Report noted that 
        the Government of Iran levied ``severe restrictions on free expression, 
        the press, and the internet, including censorship, site blocking, and 
        criminalization of libel; substantial interference with the rights of 
        peaceful assembly and freedom of association, such as overly restrictive 
        nongovernmental organization (NGO) laws; egregious restrictions of 
        religious freedom; restrictions on political participation;'' and that 
        there is ``widespread corruption at all levels of government'';
Whereas, on November 18, 2019, the Office of the German Chancellor stated, ``It 
        is legitimate and deserving of our respect when people courageously air 
        their economic and political grievances, as is currently happening in 
        Iran . . . We urge the government in Tehran to respect freedom of 
        assembly and expression.'';
Whereas, on November 20, 2019, the French Foreign Ministry stated, ``France is 
        following the demonstrations taking place in Iran with concern. It 
        expresses its deep concern at reports that a large respect its 
        international human rights obligations.'';
Whereas, on December 2, 2019, a statement from Amnesty International confirmed 
        that ``extensive video footage verified and analyzed by Amnesty 
        International's Digital Verification Corps shows security forces 
        shooting at unarmed protesters who did not pose any imminent risk'';
Whereas, on December 6, 2019, United Nation's High Commissioner for Human Rights 
        Michelle Bachelet said, ``Verified video footage indicates severe 
        violence was used against protesters, including armed members of 
        security forces shooting from the roof of a justice department building 
        in one city, and from helicopters in another,'' and added that the 
        Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights has also 
        received footage showing security forces ``shooting to kill'';
Whereas, on December 8, 2019, a Declaration by the European Union High 
        Representative for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy Josep Borrell 
        Fontelles stated, ``A growing body of evidence indicates that despite 
        repeated calls for restraint, the Iranian security forces' 
        disproportionate response to recent demonstrations has led to high 
        numbers of deaths and injuries. For the European Union and its Member 
        States, the widespread and disproportionate use of force against 
        nonviolent protestors is unacceptable.'';
Whereas, on December 16, 2019, Amnesty International further reported that 
        ``[eyewitness testimony] suggests that, almost immediately after the 
        Iranian authorities massacred hundreds . . . participating in nationwide 
        protests, [the authorities] went on to orchestrate a wide-scale 
        clampdown designed to instill fear and prevent anyone from speaking out 
        about what happened'';
Whereas, on January 17, 2020, the United States designated IRGC General Hassan 
        Shahvarpour, Khuzestan Province's Vali Asr Commander, for his 
        involvement in gross violations of human rights against protestors 
        during the November 15 through 18, 2019, protests in Mahshahr, Iran;
Whereas Iran is a member of the United Nations, voted for the Universal 
        Declaration of Human Rights, and is a state party to the International 
        Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, done at New York December 19, 
        1966;
Whereas, during February 2020 parliamentary elections, against the backdrop of 
        regime interference, disqualification of reformist and moderate 
        candidates, and anger over crackdowns on protesters, the majority of the 
        Iranian people chose not to vote, making turnout the lowest in Iran's 
        post-1979 history; and
Whereas the Iranian regime has a long history of violent repression of dissent, 
        including--

    (1) in 1988, carrying out the barbaric mass executions of thousands of 
political prisoners--including teenagers and pregnant women--by hanging and 
firing squad for refusing to renounce their political affiliations and, in 
some cases, for possessing or distributing political reading material;

    (2) in 1999, brutally suppressing a student revolt that was one of the 
largest mass uprisings up until that point in the country since 1979, in a 
crackdown since referred to as ``Iran's Tiananmen Square'';

    (3) following voting irregularities that resulted in the 2009 re-
election of Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, cracking down on peaceful political 
dissent from wide segments of civil society in a cynical attempt to retain 
its undemocratic grip on power; and

    (4) beginning in December 2017, and continuing for several months after 
protests erupted over economic conditions in more than 80 cities, 
confronting protestors with excessive force that resulted in at least 25 
deaths and 4,000 arrests: Now, therefore, be it

    Resolved, That the Senate--
            (1) stands with the people of Iran that are engaged in 
        legitimate protests against an oppressive, corrupt regime;
            (2) supports the right of Iranians to peacefully assemble, 
        without fear of persecution and violence, whether in Iran or 
        internationally;
            (3) respects the proud history and rich culture of the 
        Iranian nation and fully supports efforts by the people of Iran 
        to promote the establishment of basic freedoms that build the 
        foundation for the emergence of a freely elected and 
        transparent republic;
            (4) condemns the Iranian regime's downing of Ukrainian 
        International Airlines Flight 752 and its repeated lying to the 
        people of Iran and around the world about its responsibility 
        for the disaster;
            (5) condemns the Iranian regime for its record of brutal 
        repression against peaceful protests;
            (6) condemns the Iranian regime's serious human rights 
        abuses against Iranians, significant corruption, and 
        destabilizing activities abroad;
            (7) commends the statements of support for protesters from 
        the United States and key United States allies;
            (8) calls on all democratic governments and institutions to 
        support the ability of the people of Iran to live in a free 
        society such that they can exercise their human rights and 
        fundamental freedoms;
            (9) demands that the Iranian regime abide by its 
        international obligations with respect to human rights and 
        civil liberties, including freedoms of peaceful assembly and 
        speech, including for members of the press;
            (10) urges the President to work to convene emergency 
        sessions of the United Nations Security Council and the United 
        Nations Human Rights Council to condemn the ongoing human 
        rights violations perpetrated by the Iranian regime and 
        establish a mechanism by which the Security Council can monitor 
        such violations;
            (11) encourages the United States Government to do 
        everything in its power to ensure the Iranian people have free 
        and uninterrupted access to the internet;
            (12) calls on telecommunications companies to reject 
        requests by the regime to cut off the Iranian people from 
        social media and other communications platforms; and
            (13) urges the President and the Secretary of State to work 
        with the international community to signal through future 
        multilateral and bilateral discussions that the Government of 
        Iran's human rights violations are unacceptable.
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