Iranian Americans Commend Congress for Introducing Resolution About the 1988 Massacre and Recent Uprising in Iran

WASHINGTON, DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA, USA, July 28, 2023/EINPresswire.com/ — July 28, 2023; Washington, DC – Organization of Iranian American Communities (OIAC) welcomes the introduction in the U.S. House of Representatives of the bipartisan H.Res.627, “Condemning the Government of the Islamic Republic of Iran for the massacre of political prisoners in 1988 and the uprisings of recent years, including the 2018, 2019, and 2022 uprisings, and calling for justice for its victims.”

The resolution is sponsored by Congressman Lance Gooden (R-TX), lead democratic sponsor Rep. Steve Cohen (D-TN), and 38 other bipartisan original cosponsors. The measure builds on H.R.4744, passed unanimously by the House, calling on the United States to condemn human rights abuses committed by the Iranian regime against dissidents, including the massacre in 1988 and the suppression of political demonstrations in the years that followed. The new resolution also references H.Res.188 in the 115th U.S. Congress, which condemned the regime in Tehran for the 1988 massacre, documenting that it was carried out pursuant to a fatwa, or religious decree, issued by then-Supreme Leader Ruhollah Khomeini, that targeted the People’s Mojahedin of Iran (PMOI/MEK).

With H.Res.627, House members highlight that the killings of as many as 30,000 political prisoners who remained loyal to the Iranian Resistance were carried out by death commissions formed on July 19, 1988, whose members included the current Iranian regime’s President, Ebrahim Raisi. Later, the waves of executions included targeted religious minorities, such as members of the Baha’i faith, many of whom were often subjected to brutal torture before they were killed. The resolution correctly asserts that families of the executed continue to be denied information about their loved ones and prohibited from mourning in public. Amnesty International, human rights organizations, and legal scholars have pointed out that this development qualifies the 1988 forced disappearances in Iran as an ongoing crime against humanity.

The resolution also documents the ongoing protests in Iran and the clerical regime’s violent repressions beginning in 2017 and continuing today. It highlights the nationwide protests in over 100 cities across Iran, the indiscriminate murder of about 1,500 people in November 2019, and killing of women and children that have occurred since the 2022 nationwide uprising in Iran. With the resolution, bipartisan members of congress decry Iran security forces for killing with “absolute impunity,” and the regime for depriving the people of their fundamental freedoms, for which reason they are rejecting monarchic dictatorship and religious tyranny.

The measure further notes that the United Nations Human Rights Council has already, “established a fact-finding commission to conduct an independent investigation into the ongoing deadly violence related to the protests in Iran,” and urges the U.S. administration, the United States, and its allies to put on their agenda to hope the families of the victims of the Iranian regime. It calls for U.S. involvement in establishment of an international investigation into the extrajudicial killings of Iranian dissidents as well as murder of protesters.

OIAC supports the bipartisan members of Congress in their call for the UN Human Rights Council to include the massacre of political prisoners in 1988 in the agenda of the fact-finding commission launched in November 24, 2022.

H.Res.627 also highlights that over 900 of the women and men living in Ashraf 3 in Albania are former political prisoners and witnesses to crimes committed by the Iranian regime, many of whom are witnesses of the 1988 massacre. The resolution points also, that among these witnesses are eyewitnesses of crimes committed by Ebrahim Raisi, who must be fully protected for potential future testimonies before any international courts investigating the killings in Iran. It therefore calls on the United States government, in cooperation with Albania, to ensure the full protection of Ashraf 3, with due benefits stipulated in the Geneva Convention of 1951 and the European Convention on Human Rights.

Organization of Iranian American Communities welcomes and fully supports H.Res.627, including its calls for the United States to stand with and recognize the rights of the Iranian people and their struggle to establish a democratic, secular, and nonnuclear Republic of Iran.

Majid Sadeghpour
OIAC
+1 202-876-8123
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