US Congress Passes a Bill Condemning the Persecution of Baha'is in Iran

The United States Congress passed this morning, with an overwhelming majority, H. Res. 1008 condemning the State-sponsored persecution of the Baha'is of Iran. The resolution passed with 408 (94%) Ayes, 3 (1%) Nays and 23 (5%) No Vote [did not vote]. The breakdown of the vote can be seen at this site.

The full text of the vote is available in various formats at this site. The resolution was submitted and sponsored by Representative Mark Kirk of Illinois. The bill, after passing the Foreign Affairs Committee, was submitted to the full congress and was cosponsored by 56 Congressional Representatives.

It should be also remembered that the committee of seven Baha'is, who were attending to the minimal needs of the Iranian Baha'i community, remain incarcerated without any charges since March and May 2008. They have no access to legal representation and have not been heard from since the initial one telephone contact with their families. Because their arrest was more recent, they have not been mentioned in this particular bill which was introduced on 28 february 2008, prior to their detention.



For ease of access, the full text of the bill is also posted below:

110th CONGRESS

2d Session

H. RES. 1008

Condemning the persecution of Baha'is in Iran.

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

February 28, 2008

Mr. KIRK (for himself, Mr. ANDREWS, Mr. WILSON of South Carolina, Mr. WEXLER, Mr. WOLF, Mr. CANTOR, and Mr. MCNULTY) submitted the following resolution; which was referred to the Committee on Foreign Affairs
______________________________________________________________________

RESOLUTION

Condemning the persecution of Baha'is in Iran.

Whereas in 1982, 1984, 1988, 1990, 1992, 1994, 1996, 2000, and 2006, 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 on March 20, 2006, the United Nations Special Rapporteur on freedom of religion or belief, Asma Jahangir, revealed the existence of a confidential letter dated October 29, 2005, from the chairman of the command headquarters of Iran's Armed Forces to the Ministry of Information, the Revolutionary Guard, and the police force, stating the Supreme Leader, Ayatollah Khamenei, instructed the command headquarters to identify members of the Baha'i faith in Iran and monitor their activities;

Whereas the United Nations Special Rapporteur expressed `grave concern and apprehension' about the implications of this letter for the safety of the Baha'i community;

Whereas in May 2006, 54 Baha'is were arrested in Shiraz and held for several days without trial in the largest roundup of Baha'is since the 1980s;

Whereas in August 2006, the Iranian Ministry of the Interior ordered provincial officials to `cautiously and carefully monitor and manage' all Baha'i social activities;

Whereas in 2006, the Central Security Office of Iran's Ministry of Science, Research, and Technology ordered 81 Iranian universities to expel any student discovered to be a Baha'i;

Whereas in November 2006, a letter issued by Payame Noor University stated that it is Iranian policy to prevent Baha'is from enrolling in universities and to expel Baha'i upon discovery;

Whereas in 2007, more than two-thirds of the Baha'is enrolled in universities were expelled upon identification as a Baha'i;

Whereas in February 2007, police in Tehran and surrounding towns entered Baha'i homes and businesses to collect details on family members;

Whereas in April 2007, the Iranian Public Intelligence and Security Force ordered 25 industries to deny business licences to Baha'is;

Whereas in 2006 and 2007, the Iranian Ministry of Information pressured employers to fire Baha'i employees and instructed banks to refuse to provide loans to Baha'i-owned businesses;

Whereas in July 2007, a Baha'i cemetery was destroyed by earthmoving equipment in Yazd, and in September 2007, a Baha'i cemetery was bulldozed outside of Najafabad, erasing the memory of those Iranian citizens;

Whereas in November 2007, the Iranian Ministry of Information in Shiraz detained Baha'is Ms. Raha Sabet, 33; Mr. Sasan Taqva, 32; and Ms. Haleh Roohi, 29, for educating underprivileged children;

Whereas Mr. Taqva reportedly was detained while suffering from an injured leg which required medical attention;

Whereas on January 23, 2008, the State Department released a statement urging the Iranian regime to release all individuals held without due process and a fair trial, including the 3 young Baha'is being held in an Iranian Ministry of Intelligence detention center in Shiraz;

Whereas the Government of Iran is party to the International Covenants on Human Rights; and

Whereas in December 2007, the Iranian Parliament published a draft Islamic penal code, which violates Iran's commitment under the International Covenants on Human Rights by requiring the death penalty for `apostates', a term applied to Baha'is and any convert from Islam: Now, therefore, be it

Resolved, That the House of Representatives--

(1) condemns the Government of Iran for its state-sponsored persecution of Baha'is, calls on the Government of Iran to immediately cease activities aimed at the repression of the Iranian Baha'i community, and continues to hold the Government of Iran responsible for upholding all the rights of its nationals, including members of the Baha'i community;

(2) condemns the Government of Iran's continued imprisonment of individuals without due process and a fair trial;

(3) calls on the Government of Iran to immediately release 3 Baha'is: Ms. Raha Sabet, Mr. Sasan Taqva, and Ms. Haleh Roohi; and

(4) calls on the Government of Iran and the Iranian Parliament to reject a draft Islamic penal code, which violates Iran's commitments under the International Covenants on Human Rights.