[Congressional Bills 115th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H. Res. 188 Introduced in House (IH)]

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115th CONGRESS
  1st Session
H. RES. 188

Condemning the Government of the Islamic Republic of Iran for the 1988 
    massacre of political prisoners and calling for justice for the 
                                victims.


_______________________________________________________________________


                    IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

                             March 9, 2017

   Mr. McCaul (for himself, Mr. Royce of California, Mr. Engel, Mrs. 
 Comstock, Mr. McClintock, Mr. Sessions, Mr. Keating, Mr. Sherman, Mr. 
    Young of Alaska, and Ms. Judy Chu of California) submitted the 
 following resolution; which was referred to the Committee on Foreign 
                                Affairs

_______________________________________________________________________

                               RESOLUTION


 
Condemning the Government of the Islamic Republic of Iran for the 1988 
    massacre of political prisoners and calling for justice for the 
                                victims.

Whereas over a 4-month period in 1988, the Government of the Islamic Republic of 
        Iran carried out the barbaric mass executions of thousands of political 
        prisoners and many unrelated political groups;
Whereas according to a report by the Iran Human Rights Documentation Center, the 
        massacre was carried out pursuant to a fatwa, or religious decree, 
        issued by then-Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini, that targeted 
        the People's Mojahedin of Iran (PMOI), also known as the Mujahedeen-e-
        Khalq (MEK);
Whereas according to a November 2, 2007, report by Amnesty International, 
        ``between 27 July 1988 and the end of that year, thousands of political 
        prisoners [in Iran], including prisoners of conscience, were executed in 
        prisons nationwide'';
Whereas the killings were carried out on the orders of a judge, an official from 
        the Ministry of Intelligence, and a state prosecutor, known to the 
        prisoners as ``Death Commissions'' which undertook proceedings in a 
        manner designed to eliminate the regime's opponents;
Whereas those personally responsible for these mass executions include senior 
        officials serving in the current Government of Iran;
Whereas prisoners were reportedly brought before the commissions and briefly 
        questioned about their political affiliation, and any prisoner who 
        refused to renounce his or her affiliation with groups perceived as 
        enemies by the regime was then taken away for execution;
Whereas the victims included thousands of people, including teenagers and 
        pregnant women, imprisoned merely for participating in peaceful street 
        protests and for possessing political reading material, many of whom had 
        already served or were currently serving prison sentences;
Whereas prisoners were executed in groups, some in mass hangings and others by 
        firing squad, with their bodies disposed of in mass graves;
Whereas according to Amnesty International, ``the majority of those killed were 
        supporters of the PMOI, but hundreds of members and supporters of other 
        political groups . . . were also among the execution victims'';
Whereas later waves of executions targeted religious minorities, such as members 
        of the Baha'i faith, many of whom were often subjected to brutal torture 
        before they were killed;
Whereas the families of the executed were denied information about their loved 
        ones and were prohibited from mourning them in public;
Whereas in a recently disclosed audiotape, the late Hussein Ali Montazeri, a 
        grand ayatollah who served as Khomeini's chief deputy, noted the 
        regime's efforts to target the MEK and said that the 1988 mass killings 
        were ``the greatest crime committed during the Islamic Republic, for 
        which history will condemn us'';
Whereas the current Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei was reportedly aware of, and 
        later publicly condoned the massacre;
Whereas in violation of its international obligations, the Government of Iran 
        continues to systematically perpetrate gross violations of the 
        fundamental human rights of the Iranian people; and
Whereas the November 2, 2007, report from Amnesty International concluded 
        ``there should be no impunity for human rights violations, no matter 
        where or when they took place. The 1988 executions should be subject to 
        an independent impartial investigation, and all those responsible should 
        be brought to justice, and receive appropriate penalties'': Now, 
        therefore, be it
    Resolved, That the House of Representatives--
            (1) condemns the Government of the Islamic Republic of Iran 
        for the 1988 massacre, and for denying the evidence of this 
        manifest set of crimes against humanity;
            (2) urges the Administration and United States allies to 
        publicly condemn the massacre, and pressure the Government of 
        Iran to provide detailed information to the families of the 
        victims about their loved ones and their final resting places; 
        and
            (3) urges the United Nations Special Rapporteur on the 
        human rights situation in Iran and the United Nations Human 
        Rights Council to create a Commission of Inquiry to fully 
        investigate the massacre and to gather evidence and identify 
        the names and roles of specific perpetrators with a view 
        towards bringing them to justice.
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