Calling for the unconditional release of United States citizens and legal permanent resident aliens being held for political purposes by the Government of Iran.

IV 116TH CONGRESS 1ST SESSION H. RES. 187 Calling for the unconditional release of United States citizens and legal permanent resident aliens being held for political purposes by the Govern- ment of Iran. IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES MARCH 7, 2019 Mr. DEUTCH (for himself, Mr. WILSON of South Carolina, Mrs. LOWEY, Mr. SMITH of New Jersey, Mr. ENGEL, Mr. MCCAUL, Mr. CONNOLLY, and Mr. CHABOT) submitted the following resolution; which was referred to the Committee on Foreign Affairs RESOLUTION Calling for the unconditional release of United States citizens and legal permanent resident aliens being held for polit- ical purposes by the Government of Iran. Whereas Iran has taken as hostages several United States citizens, including Siamak and Baquer Namazi and Xiyue Wang, as well as United States legal permanent resident, Nizar Zakka, among others; Whereas Siamak Namazi was detained on October 15, 2015, falsely accused, and convicted on October 18, 2016, for ‘‘collaborating with a hostile government’’ and has been held for extended periods in solitary confinement and under constant interrogation; VerDate Sep 11 2014 02:13 Mar 08, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00001 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6300 E:\BILLS\HR187.IH HR187 pamtmann on DSKBFK8HB2PROD with BILLS 2 •HRES 187 IH Whereas former UNICEF official Baquer Namazi, the 80- year old father of Siamak Namazi, was detained on Feb- ruary 22, 2016, falsely accused, and sentenced to 10 years in prison for the same crime as his son; Whereas former United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki- moon urged Iranian authorities to release Baquer Namazi, whose health status is deteriorating, to allow his family to care for him; Whereas UNICEF has issued four public statements on Baquer Namazi’s behalf; Whereas Xiyue Wang, a graduate student at Princeton Uni- versity, was arrested in Iran on or about August 7, 2016, while studying Farsi and researching the late Qajar dy- nasty as background for his doctoral dissertation, de- tained by Iran in Evin prison for almost a year, falsely charged with espionage, and sentenced to 10 years in prison; Whereas Robert Levinson, a United States citizen and retired agent of the Federal Bureau of Investigation, traveled to Kish Island, Iran, and disappeared on March 9, 2007; Whereas the United States Government had ‘‘secured a com- mitment from the Iranians to try and gather information about Mr. Levinson’s possible whereabouts’’ but has not received any information thus far; Whereas, on November 23, 2016, the United Nations Work- ing Group on Arbitrary Detention concluded that Iran was responsible for the arbitrary detention of Robert Levinson; Whereas Nizar Zakka, a United States legal permanent resi- dent alien and Lebanese national, who is also in a weak- ened physical state, was unlawfully detained on or about VerDate Sep 11 2014 02:13 Mar 08, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00002 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6300 E:\BILLS\HR187.IH HR187 pamtmann on DSKBFK8HB2PROD with BILLS 3 •HRES 187 IH September 18, 2015, after presenting at a conference in Iran at Iran’s invitation, and was later falsely charged with being a spy and sentenced to 10 years at the Evin prison; Whereas, on April 13, 2017, the Department of the Treasury sanctioned the Tehran Prisons Organization and its former head, Sohrab Soleimani, and White House Press Secretary Sean Spicer noted ‘‘The sanctions against human rights abusers in Iran’s prisons come at a time when Iran continues to unjustly detain in its prisons var- ious foreigners, including U.S. citizens Siamak Namazi and Baquer Namazi’’; Whereas, on April 25, 2017, at the meeting of the Joint Commission overseeing implementation of the Joint Com- prehensive Plan of Action, the Department of State re- ported that the United States delegation had ‘‘raised with the Iranian delegation its serious concerns regarding the cases of U.S. citizens detained and missing in Iran, and called on Iran to immediately release these U.S. citizens so they can be reunited with their families’’; Whereas, on July 21, 2017, the White House released a statement stating that ‘‘President Donald J. Trump and his Administration are redoubling efforts to bring home all Americans unjustly detained abroad, ‘and are’ pre- pared to impose new and serious consequences on Iran unless all unjustly imprisoned American citizens are re- leased and returned.’’; Whereas, on December 3, 2018, the families of Robert Levinson, Baquer and Siamak Namazi, and Nizar Zakka joined with the families of other foreign nationals held in Iran in sending an open letter to the international com- munity calling for the release of their family members; VerDate Sep 11 2014 02:13 Mar 08, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00003 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6300 E:\BILLS\HR187.IH HR187 pamtmann on DSKBFK8HB2PROD with BILLS 4 •HRES 187 IH Whereas according to Jason Rezaian, a former Washington Post Tehran correspondent who was unjustly imprisoned in Iran for 544 days, hostage-taking ‘‘in recent years be- came a key tool of domestic influence for the Revolu- tionary Guard’’; and Whereas Iranian media has reportedly quoted officials who have indicated that the Government of Iran is seeking additional payments or other concessions, including relief from economic sanctions, from the families of hostages and their governments as a condition of release, a prac- tice banned by the 1979 International Convention Against the Taking of Hostages and other international legal norms: Now, therefore, be it Resolved, That the House of Representatives— 1 (1) calls on the Government of the Islamic Re- 2 public of Iran to release unconditionally Siamak 3 Namazi, Baquer Namazi, Xiyue Wang, Nizar Zakka, 4 and any other United States citizen, legal permanent 5 resident alien, or foreign national being unjustly de- 6 tained in Iran; 7 (2) urges the President to make the release of 8 United States citizens and legal permanent resident 9 aliens held hostage by the Government of Iran the 10 highest of priorities; 11 (3) requests that the United States and its al- 12 lies whose nationals have been detained consider es- 13 tablishing a multinational task force to secure the 14 release of the detainees; 15 VerDate Sep 11 2014 02:13 Mar 08, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00004 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\HR187.IH HR187 pamtmann on DSKBFK8HB2PROD with BILLS 5 •HRES 187 IH (4) urges the Government of Iran to take mean- 1 ingful steps towards fulfilling its repeated promises 2 to assist in locating and returning Robert Levinson, 3 including immediately providing all available infor- 4 mation from all entities of the Government of Iran 5 regarding the disappearance of Robert Levinson to 6 the United States Government; 7 (5) encourages the President to take meaning- 8 ful action to secure the release of Siamak Namazi, 9 Baquer Namazi, Xiyue Wang, Nizar Zakka, and any 10 other United States citizen, legal permanent resident 11 alien, or foreign national being unjustly detained in 12 Iran if the Government of Iran does not release such 13 United States citizens, legal permanent resident 14 aliens, and foreign nationals; and 15 (6) encourages the President to take meaning- 16 ful action to secure the return of Robert Levinson 17 if the Government of Iran does not locate and return 18 him. 19 Æ VerDate Sep 11 2014 02:13 Mar 08, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00005 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6301 E:\BILLS\HR187.IH HR187 pamtmann on DSKBFK8HB2PROD with BILLS