Congressional Representatives Request Trump Administration to Impose Sanctions on Iran Over Human Rights Violations and Persecution of Bahá’í Minority
Six members of the United States Congress from both major Republican and Democratic parties have submitted similar resolutions to the Senate and House of Representatives, condemning human rights violations in Iran, particularly against the Bahá’í minority, and calling on President Trump’s administration to impose additional sanctions against Iran.
Republican Senator Marco Rubio from Florida, Democratic Senator Ron Wyden from Oregon, Democratic Senator Dick Durbin from Illinois, and Republican Senator John Boozman from Arkansas submitted a resolution to the Senate on Tuesday evening, condemning the violation of the rights of the Bahá’í minority in Iran.
In addition to condemning the human rights violations against the Bahá’í community, this bipartisan resolution also calls on the Islamic Republic of Iran’s government to release prisoners who have been convicted and imprisoned for their religious beliefs, including seven leaders of the Bahá’í community who have been imprisoned since 2008.
According to Senator Rubio, “the Iranian regime has been discriminating against and cruelly persecuting the Bahá’í community for decades… and the absence of religious freedom for Bahá’ís and other peaceful religious minorities in Iran cannot be overlooked.”
Meanwhile, two representatives from Florida in the U.S. House of Representatives have also submitted a similar resolution condemning human rights violations, particularly against the Bahá’í minority, in Iran and have called on the Trump administration to impose additional sanctions against the Iranian government on these grounds.
According to a statement released Tuesday evening on the official website of these two congressional members, several other House members from both parties have also supported the proposed resolution by Republican Ileana Ros-Lehtinen and Democrat Ted Deutch.
Ms. Ros-Lehtinen, noting that Iran’s dark human rights record worsens as next month’s elections approach, said that despite propaganda efforts to portray Hassan Rouhani as a reformist, executions and suppression of political opponents and minorities in Iran have increased in recent years.
According to her, the suppression of Iran’s 300,000-strong Bahá’í community through daily harassment of Bahá’í men and women, arbitrary arrests, and prevention of their education and employment is deplorable. Bahá’ís are not allowed to freely assemble and worship, and their cemeteries are targets of vandalism and desecration.
This Republican representative has also called on President Donald Trump’s administration to use all its authority in the best possible way to impose greater sanctions against the Islamic Republic regime for human rights violations in Iran.
Ted Deutch, in this resolution, stating that the Iranian regime commits gross human rights violations against its own people by denying religious freedom, persecuting minorities such as Bahá’ís, and imprisoning those with different sexual orientations, says that the United States should stand firmly against violations of basic human rights in Iran.
This senior congressional member and chairman of the House Subcommittee on the Middle East and North Africa has also called for the punishment of those responsible for such crimes in Iran and has asked the U.S. government to impose additional sanctions in this regard against Tehran.
Source: Voice of America
