Texas Congressman introduces resolution to condemn Iran for human rights abuses

FIRST ON FOX— Rep. Lance Gooden, R-Texas, is proposing a resolution to condemn Iran for killing political prisoners, crushing protests and concealing its atrocities over the past 40 years.

“Senior Iranian Government, military, judicial, and security officials have for decades ordered or committed egregious human rights violations and acts of terror,” the proposed resolution states. 

Gooden’s resolution comes as tensions in U.S.-Iran relations are intensifying — with the Islamic Republic advancing its nuclear program and seizing commercial ships in the Strait of Hormuz. Iran also conducted its annual military drill on Sunday with a show of force involving more than 90 bombers and drones.

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Gooden’s proposal “recognizes the rights of the Iranian people and their struggle to establish a democratic, secular, and nonnuclear Republic of Iran.”

Human rights activists are increasingly concerned with protests in the country. Over the past year, Iran has conducted a record-shattering number of executions, arrests and detentions, according to the U.N.’s latest report.

“The overall human rights situation in the Islamic Republic of Iran has markedly deteriorated,” said U.N. Deputy Human Rights Chief Nada Al-Nashif.

According to the Norway-based Iran Human Rights organization, in the first half of 2023, at least 354 people were executed in Iran. In 2022, 582 people were executed, a 75% increase from 2021.

Gooden’s resolution demands the United States government stand “with the people of Iran, who are legitimately defending their rights for freedom against repression and condemns the brutal killing of Iranian protesters by the Iranian regime.” 

The proposal also recognizes the abuses against women, after massive demonstrations coalesced last fall against the morality police, who murdered a woman after she violated Iran’s strict Islamic dress code. 

“These protests are rooted in the more than four decades of organized resistance against the Iranian dictatorship, which have been led by women who have endured torture, sexual and gender-based violence, and death,” the resolution reads. 

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If enacted, the U.S. would attempt to “identify and prosecute the perpetrators” of the 1988 massacre in Iran, which led to the death of as many as 30,000 people. The resolution would also “pressure the Government of Iran to provide detailed information to the families of the victims about their loved ones and their final resting places.”

Meanwhile, the Biden administration is attempting to curb Tehran’s nuclear program and bring imprisoned Americans home. However, the status of those negotiations is unclear, as is the question of support for the Biden administration’s efforts in Congress, with many Republicans saying the White House is offering Tehran too much in return for far too little.

Still, House Republicans and Democrats have introduced several pieces of legislation condemning Iran in 2023. On Jan. 25, 2023, the House agreed to H.Con. Res.7 — condemning the Iranian regime’s human rights abuses against Iranians who were peacefully demonstrating in more than 133 cities.