Sec. 2. Findings
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Congress makes the following findings: On February 21, 2014, the Office of the High Commissioner on Human Rights of the United Nations stated, with respect to Iran, We regret that the new government has not changed its approach to the death penalty and continues to impose capital punishment for a wide range of offences. We urge the government to immediately halt executions and to institute a moratorium. . Iran was rated as not free in the 2014 Freedom of the Press Report of the international organization Freedom House, for a lack of flow of independent information and the inability of print, broadcast, and Internet-based news outlets to operate freely and without fear of repercussions.
On March 11, 2014, the Secretary General of the United Nations, Ban Ki-moon, stated that the new administration [in Iran] has not made any significant improvement in the promotion and protection of freedom of expression and opinion, despite pledges made by the President during his campaign and after is swearing-in . According to Freedom House, none of the elections held in Iran after the 1979 Islamic revolution have been regarded as free or fair. According to the Committee to Protect Journalists, as of December 1, 2013, Iran was the second worst jailer of journalists worldwide after Turkey.
Additionally, research of the Committee to Protect Journalists ranks Iran as first among countries where journalists have fled into exile between 2009 and 2014. According to the international human rights organization, Iran Human Rights, executions in Iran soared to record-breaking levels in 2014. As of June 2014, more than 2 people were executed every day, and more than 320 executions took place in the first 5 months of 2014. In August 2011, Amir Hekmati, a United States veteran, was unjustly detained while visiting his family in Iran and, as of June 2014, has remained in a prison in Iran for almost 3 years on false espionage charges.
On January 27, 2013, Saeed Abedini, a pastor from the United States, was sentenced to an 8-year prison term in Iran because of his Christian faith and has been incarcerated since September 26, 2012, despite serious health issues. In March 2007, Robert Levinson, a former agent of the Federal Bureau of Investigation, disappeared in Iran during a business trip. Mr. Levinson is one of the longest held United States citizens in history. The United States has designated Iran as a country of particular concern for religious freedom pursuant to section 402(b)(1) of the International Religious Freedom Act of 1998 ( 22 U.S.C. 6442(b)(1) ) for severe violations of religious freedom in every year from 1999 through 2014.
Members of the Baha’i Faith in Iran, estimated to number between 300,000 and 350,000, are not recognized as a religious minority in the Constitution of Iran, enjoy virtually no rights under the law, and are banned from practicing their faith. On December 20, 2013, the United States Senate agreed to Senate Resolution 75, 113th Congress, condemning the Government of Iran for its state-sponsored persecution of its Baha'i minority and its continued violation of the International Covenants on Human Rights.
The United States is engaged in negotiations with the Government of Iran and the Russian Federation, the People's Republic of China, the United Kingdom, France, and Germany regarding Iran’s nuclear program, but the Government of Iran continues to systematically deny citizens of Iran basic fundamental freedoms. Officials of the United States have stated that the human rights record of Iran is abysmal and the Department of State has reported that there has been little meaningful improvement in human rights in Iran under the new government, including torture, political imprisonment, harassment of religious and ethnic minorities .
The Government of Iran is party to the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights and the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights and is in violation of its obligations under those Covenants.
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