Reporting by PMOI/MEK
Iran, February 13, 2021—In a resolution signed by more than 100 members of the U.S. House of Representatives, lawmakers have called on the new U.S. administration to hold the regime of Iran to account for its terrorist and spying activities, condemn the human rights abuses of the mullahs’ regime, and support the Iranian people in their uprisings and their struggle to establish freedom in their country.
H.Res.118, introduced by Congressman Tom McClintock (R-CA), is titled, “Expressing support for the Iranian people's desire for a democratic, secular, and nonnuclear Republic of Iran and condemning violations of human rights and state-sponsored terrorism by the Iranian Government.”
The document iterates the Iranian regime’s most recent human rights abuses, including the bloody crackdown on the November 2019 protests, the execution of national wrestling champion Navid Afkari, the torture of protesters and political prisoners, the censorship of media and arrest of journalists, and the suppression of ethnic and religious minorities. The resolution also raises concern over decades of human rights violations by “senior Iranian Government, military, judicial, and security officials,” including the unresolved case of the execution of thousands of Iranian political prisoners in 1988, which United Nations experts have described as a crime against humanity that deserves an international investigation.
“[The] Iranian people have been deprived of their fundamental freedoms for which reason they rejected monarchic dictatorship and are opposing religious tyranny,” the resolution reads.
Regarding the regime’s terrorist activities, the resolution draws attention to the case of Assadollah Assadi, a career Iranian diplomat who was caught by European authorities as he tried to bomb a major Iranian Resistance rally in France in 2018, in which “several prominent bipartisan former United States Government officials, several retired United States generals, congressional staff, and thousands of American citizens participated.” The resolution also reiterates that the people involved in the plot are part of a larger terrorist network in Europe run by the Iranian diplomatic apparatus.
The document also reminds of a similar plot by the Iranian embassy in Albania, targeted against members of the People’s Mojahedin Organization of Iran (PMOI/MEK), which resulted in the expulsion of four Iranian diplomats from the country. “Iran’s malign activities in the Balkans, specifically its presence and activities in Albania, pose a serious threat to United States national security interests,” the resolution reads in part.
The resolution also warns of Iranian spying activities in the U.S., including two Iranian regime agents involved in “covert surveillance in the United States against officials of the National Council of Resistance of Iran.” The two individuals were arrested in 2018 and are facing charges of “apprehension, recruitment, cyber exploitation, or capture/kill operations.”
Members of U.S. Congress sponsor resolution to hold the Iranian regime to account for terrorism and human rights abuses
While condemning the regime’s terrorist activities against U.S. citizens and Iranian dissidents, the resolution, which to this date includes 112 co-sponsors from both Democratic and Republican parties, calls on the United States government to “work with European allies, including those in the Balkans where Iran has expanded its presence, to hold Iran accountable for breaching diplomatic privileges, and to call on nations to prevent the malign activities of the Iranian regime’s diplomatic missions, with the goal of closing them down, including the Iranian Embassy in Albania.”
The resolution also reiterates the support of U.S. House of Representative for the Iranian people in their “legitimate and peaceful protests against an oppressive and corrupt regime” and their struggle “to establish a democratic, secular, and nonnuclear Republic of Iran.”
In a letter to U.S. President Joe Biden, Congressmen Tom McClintock and Brad Sherman (D-CA) presented the resolution and wrote, “For the sake of national security, peace, regional stability, and the Iranian people’s desire for freedom, the United States must remain firm in holding the Iranian government accountable both for its nuclear and other destabilizing activities in the region, such as its support for terrorism, development of ballistic missiles, and human rights violations against its own people.”
The congressmen reaffirmed the need for working with U.S. allies to hold the Iranian regime accountable for breaching its diplomatic privileges and to prevent the malign activities of its diplomatic missions.
“With the introduction of this resolution, a bipartisan coalition of members of Congress encourages all efforts to recognize the rights of the Iranian people and their struggle to establish a democratic, secular, and non-nuclear republic of Iran while holding the ruling regime accountable for its destructive behavior,” McClintock and Sherman conclude, adding, “We look forward to working with you to continue to address Iran’s destabilizing activities, and in particular its human rights violations.”
Pleased to be joined by @BradSherman and 112 bipartisan colleagues in introducing our resolution supporting the Iranian people’s desire for a free Iran and condemning the regime’s suppression of human rights and sponsorship of global terrorism. pic.twitter.com/xuLhLdVKvd
— Tom McClintock (@RepMcClintock) February 12, 2021
