[Congressional Bills 111th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H.R. 4649 Introduced in House (IH)]
111th CONGRESS
2d Session
H. R. 4649
To impose sanctions on persons who are complicit in human rights abuses
committed against citizens of Iran or their family members after the
June 12, 2009, political processes in Iran, and for other purposes.
_______________________________________________________________________
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
February 23, 2010
Ms. Ros-Lehtinen (for herself, Mr. Marshall, and Mr. Royce) introduced
the following bill; which was referred to the Committee on Foreign
Affairs, and in addition to the Committees on Financial Services, Ways
and Means, and the Judiciary, for a period to be subsequently
determined by the Speaker, in each case for consideration of such
provisions as fall within the jurisdiction of the committee concerned
_______________________________________________________________________
A BILL
To impose sanctions on persons who are complicit in human rights abuses
committed against citizens of Iran or their family members after the
June 12, 2009, political processes in Iran, and for other purposes.
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the
United States of America in Congress assembled,
SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.
This Act may be cited as the ``Iran Human Rights Sanctions Act''.
SEC. 2. FINDINGS.
Congress makes the following findings:
(1) Iran voted in the United Nations General Assembly on
December 10, 1948, to adopt the Universal Declaration of Human
Rights, thereby committing to guarantee the ``life, liberty,
and security of person'' of all people and rejecting ``cruel,
inhuman, or degrading treatment or punishment''.
(2) Iran is a party to major international human rights
instruments.
(3) The Government of Iran is violating its international
obligations to respect the human rights and fundamental
freedoms of its citizens, including by--
(A) using torture and cruel, inhuman, or degrading
treatment or punishment, including flogging, and
amputations;
(B) carrying out an increasingly high rate of
executions in the absence of internationally recognized
safeguards, including public executions;
(C) using stoning as a method of execution and
maintaining a high number of persons in prison who
continue to face sentences of execution by stoning;
(D) carrying out arrests, violent repression, and
sentencing of women exercising their right to peaceful
assembly, a campaign of intimidation against women's
rights defenders, and continuing discrimination against
women and girls;
(E) permitting or carrying out increasing
discrimination and other human rights violations
against persons belonging to religious, ethnic,
linguistic, or other minorities;
(F) imposing 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;
and
(G) imposing severe limitations and restrictions on
freedom of religion and belief, including by carrying
out arbitrary arrests, indefinite detentions, and
lengthy jail sentences for those exercising their
rights to freedom of religion or belief and proposing a
provision in a draft penal code that sets out a
mandatory death sentence for apostasy, the abandoning
of one's faith.
(4) On June 19, 2009, the United Nations High Commissioner
for Human Rights expressed concerns about the increasing number
of arrests not in conformity with the law and the illegal use
of excessive force in responding to protests following the June
12, 2009, political processes in Iran, resulting in at least
dozens of deaths and hundreds of injuries.
(5) On August 1, 2009, authorities in the Government of
Iran began a mass trial of more than 100 individuals in
connection with election protests, most of whom were held for
weeks, in solitary confinement, with little or no access to
their lawyers or families, and many of whom showed signs of
torture or abuse.
(6) The ``Supreme Leader'' of Iran issued a statement on
October 28, 2009, effectively criminalizing dissent in the
aftermath of the national political processes of June 12, 2009.
(7) On November 4, 2009, security forces in the Government
of Iran used brutal force to disperse thousands of protesters,
resulting in a number of injuries and arrests, in violation of
international norms regarding the proportionate use of force
against peaceful demonstrations.
(8) At least 8 citizens of Iran were killed and an
undetermined number were injured on December 27, 2009, when
security forces of the Government of Iran violently broke up
peaceful gatherings during the Ashura holiday.
(9) The Government of Iran has recently sentenced numerous
Iranian citizens to death without due process for politicized
crimes relating to the peaceful demonstrations that followed
the June 12, 2009, political processes, including ``waging war
against God'', and has begun carrying out those execution
sentences, including the death by hanging of 2 individuals on
January 28, 2010.
(10) The Iran Freedom Support Act (Public Law 109-293; 50
U.S.C. 1701 note) declares that it should be the policy of the
United States--
(A) to support efforts by the people of Iran to
exercise self-determination over the form of government
of their country; and
(B) to support independent human rights and
peaceful pro-democracy forces in Iran.
SEC. 3. IMPOSITION OF SANCTIONS ON CERTAIN PERSONS WHO ARE COMPLICIT IN
HUMAN RIGHTS ABUSES COMMITTED AGAINST CITIZENS OF IRAN OR
THEIR FAMILY MEMBERS AFTER THE JUNE 12, 2009, POLITICAL
PROCESSES IN IRAN.
(a) In General.--The President shall impose sanctions described in
subsection (c) (1) and (2) with respect to each person on the list
required by subsection (b), beginning not later than the date on which
the President submits to the appropriate congressional committees the
list required by subsection (b)(1) or the updated list required by
subsection (b)(2) (as the case may be).
(b) List of Persons Who Are Complicit in Certain Human Rights
Abuses.--
(1) In general.--Not later than 90 days after the date of
the enactment of this Act, the President shall submit to the
appropriate congressional committees a list of persons who are
citizens of Iran that the President determines are complicit in
human rights abuses committed against citizens of Iran or their
family members on or after June 12, 2009, regardless of whether
such abuses occurred in Iran.
(2) Updates of list.--Not later than 180 days after the
date of the enactment of this Act, and every 90 days
thereafter, the President shall submit to the appropriate
congressional committees an updated list under paragraph (1).
(3) Public availability.--The list required by paragraph
(1) shall be made available to the public and posted on the
websites of the Department of the Treasury and the Department
of State.
(4) Consideration of data from other countries and
nongovernmental organizations.--In preparing the list required
by paragraph (1), the President shall consider data already
obtained by other countries and nongovernmental organizations,
including organizations in Iran, that monitor the human rights
abuses of the Government of Iran.
(c) Sanctions Described.--The sanctions described in this
subsection are the following:
(1) Visa ban.--Ineligibility for a visa to enter the United
States.
(2) Financial sanctions.--Sanctions authorized under the
International Emergency Economic Powers Act (50 U.S.C. 1701 et
seq.), including blocking of property and restrictions or
prohibitions on financial transactions and the exportation and
importation of property.
(d) Termination of Sanctions.--The provisions of this section shall
cease to have force and effect beginning 90 days after the date on
which the President determines and certifies to the appropriate
congressional committees that--
(1) the persons sanctioned under this section have ceased
to be complicit in human rights abuses committed against
citizens of Iran or their family members on or after June 12,
2009, regardless of whether such abuses occurred in Iran; and
(2) the Government of Iran has--
(A) unconditionally released all political
prisoners, including the citizens of Iran detained in
the aftermath of the June 12, 2009, political processes
in Iran, and allowed for investigations of Iranian
prisons by appropriate international human rights
organizations;
(B) ceased its practices of violence, unlawful
detention, torture, and abuse of citizens of Iran while
engaging in peaceful political activity;
(C) conducted a transparent investigation into the
killings, arrest, and abuse of peaceful political
activists in Iran and prosecuted those responsible;
(D) legalized all political activity;
(E) made public commitments to organizing free and
fair elections for a new government--
(i) to be held in a timely manner within a
period not to exceed 180 days after the date on
which the President makes the determination and
certification to the appropriate congressional
committees under this subsection;
(ii) with the participation of multiple
independent political parties that have full
access to the media on an equal basis,
including (in the case of radio, television, or
other telecommunications media) in terms of
allotments of time for such access and the
times of day such allotments are given; and
(iii) to be conducted under the supervision
of internationally recognized observers;
(F) ceased any interference with broadcasts such as
Voice of America and Radio Farda; and
(G) made public commitments to and is making
demonstrable progress in--
(i) establishing an independent judiciary;
and
(ii) respecting internationally recognized
human rights and basic freedoms as recognized
in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights.
SEC. 4. DEFINITIONS.
In this Act:
(1) Appropriate congressional committees.--The term
``appropriate congressional committees'' has the meaning given
that term in section 14(2) of the Iran Sanctions Act of 1996
(Public Law 104-172; 50 U.S.C. 1701 note).
(2) Country reports on human rights practices.--The term
``Country Reports on Human Rights Practices'' means the annual
reports required to be submitted by the Department of State to
Congress under sections 116(d) and 502B(b) of the Foreign
Assistance Act of 1961 (22 U.S.C. 2151n(d) and 2304(b)).
(3) Government of iran.--The term ``Government of Iran''
includes any agency or instrumentality of the Government of
Iran, including any entity that is controlled by the Government
of Iran.
(4) Human rights abuses.--The term ``human rights abuses''
means those forms of abuses detailed in the Department of
State's annual Country Reports on Human Rights Practices.
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