[Congressional Bills 118th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H.R. 8586 Introduced in House (IH)]
<DOC>
118th CONGRESS
2d Session
H. R. 8586
To impose sanctions on the judges, prosecutors and investigators of the
Islamic Republic of Iran's Revolutionary Courts.
_______________________________________________________________________
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
May 31, 2024
Mrs. Kim of California (for herself, Mr. Schiff, Mr. Lawler, and Mr.
Trone) introduced the following bill; which was referred to the
Committee on Foreign Affairs, and in addition to the Committees on the
Judiciary, Ways and Means, and Financial Services, for a period to be
subsequently determined by the Speaker, in each case for consideration
of such provisions as fall within the jurisdiction of the committee
concerned
_______________________________________________________________________
A BILL
To impose sanctions on the judges, prosecutors and investigators of the
Islamic Republic of Iran's Revolutionary Courts.
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the
United States of America in Congress assembled,
SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.
This Act may be cited as the ``Targeting Oppressive Officers to
Mitigate Abuse in the Iranian Judiciary Act''or the ``TOOMAJ Act''.
SEC. 2. FINDINGS.
Congress makes the following findings:
(1) Torture is deeply contrary to both the laws and ethical
values of the United States, as well as to international norms.
This universal denouncement of torture finds its reflection in
several domains: through the U.S. criminal code, specifically
18 U.S.C. Sec. Sec. 2340-2340A; in International treaties,
highlighted by the United Nations Convention Against Torture
(CAT); within customary International law; across centuries of
the Anglo-American legal tradition; and in the longstanding
policies of the United States.
(2) Article 3 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights
guarantees the right to life, liberty, and security of person.
Article 9 of such Declaration prohibits arbitrary arrests or
detentions and Article 18 of such Declaration guarantees the
right to freedom of thought, conscience, and religion.
(3) As a member state of the United Nations and other
international institutions, the Islamic Republic of Iran is
bound by international commitments concerning human rights and
the rule of law. Nevertheless, the Islamic Republic of Iran has
systematically and consistently curtailed the ability of
Iranian citizens to exercise fundamental freedoms without fear
of retribution.
(4) The judicial system of the Islamic Republic of Iran
consists of a Chief Justice, who is responsible for overseeing
court administration, and several classes of courts, including
Islamic Revolutionary Courts, which are tasked with trying
prisoners accused of subverting the Islamic Republic. The
trials of Iranian political prisoners and protestors typically
are held before judges of these Islamic Revolutionary Courts.
(5) Unlike an adversarial system, the Islamic Republic's
judicial model is inquisitorial. The inquisitorial system gives
judges a significant role in deciding what evidence will be
considered, whether the accused can access legal counsel or a
fair trial, and the outcome of a case.
(6) The Islamic Revolutionary Courts oversee cases
involving political crimes, and employ well-documented
practices that deny fairness and subvert justice. This includes
denying access to counsel, refusing to disclose the nature of
charges, using torture and sexual violence to extract
confessions, and using coerced confessions in proceedings,
among others.
(7) On September 16, 2022, a 22-year-old woman named Jina
Mahsa Amini, died in the detention of the Morality Police after
being beaten and detained for allegedly transgressing the
Islamic Republic's morality laws concerning women's dress. This
tragic incident triggered widespread anti-gender apartheid,
pro-democracy protests across all of Iran, which have become
known globally as the ``Woman Life Freedom'' movement.
(8) In the course of the protests, the Iranian security
forces' violent crackdown included mass arrests, well-
documented beating of protestors, stifling internet access, and
shooting protestors with live ammunition. Weeks into the
protests, Iranian security forces had reportedly killed,
blinded, or injured hundreds of civilian protestors, including
women and children.
(9) By November 2022, reports were ongoing and confirmed
that the Islamic Republic had commenced an intensive crackdown
on protestors, characterized by crimes against humanity,
including mass imprisonment of tens of thousands of civilians,
torture, gender and sexual violence, and heightened persecution
of ethnic and religious minorities.
(10) On December 12, 2022, Majid Reza Rahnavard became the
first publicly executed Iranian for charges stemming from his
alleged involvement in the protests. In the time since, many
others have been executed, and many more have been detained,
tortured and killed in secret, and their families have been
threatened.
(11) As a result of the intense crackdown, the UN Human
Rights Council established the Independent International Fact-
Finding Mission on the Islamic Republic of Iran (FFMI) on
November 24, 2022. The FFMI mandate was to investigate alleged
human rights violations in Iran in connection with the protests
that began in Iran on September 16, 2022, especially with
respect to women and children.
(12) Despite the efforts of the FFMI to engage with the
Islamic Republic, the Islamic Republic did not grant the FFMI
access to the country, nor respond to calls for meetings. The
FFMI investigation resulted in over 27,000 evidence items. It
conducted a total of 134 in-depth interviews with victims and
witnesses, including 49 women, and 85 men, both inside and
outside the country, and gathered evidence and analysis from
experts on digital and medical forensics, and domestic and
international law, among others.
(13) On March 18, 2024, the FFMI issued its report
following its investigation, and found that Islamic Republic
authorities were responsible for egregious human rights
violations in connection with the Jina Mahsa Amini protests.
The FFMI confirmed the use of unnecessary and disproportionate
force on peaceful protests, resulting in unlawful killings and
injuries of protesters. The FFMI found that at least nine young
men were arbitrarily executed, following sham proceedings
before Islamic Revolutionary Courts that disregarded basic fair
trial and due process guarantees, creating terror among other
protestors. The FFMI further found that by January 2024, the
Iranian Regime's Islamic Revolutionary Courts had issued at
least 26 death sentences against protestors.
(14) With respect to the Islamic Revolutionary Courts, the
FFMI found that trials involved systematic violations of due
process. Most protestors were brought before Revolutionary
Courts, on vague charges of ``corruption on earth'' or ``waging
war against God'' in relation to protected conduct or speech.
They were denied some of the basic procedural elements of due
process. Many were denied access to counsel, not able to access
their case files, or receive copies of their judgments. The
FFMI found that Islamic Revolutionary Courts showed clear bias
against protesters, and systematically dismissed complaints of
rape, torture and ill-treatment.
(15) Toomaj Salehi is an Iranian dissident and rap artist
who criticizes the Islamic Republic's oppressive policies
through his music. He is widely revered inside Iran for
directly challenging the Islamic Republic's denial of human
rights. He was arrested in October 2022, in the aftermath of
the Woman Life Freedom protests, and has endured intense
psychological and physical torture, including prolonged
solitary confinement. In July 2023, he was sentenced to over
six years of prison for ``corruption on Earth,'' a crime
manufactured by the Islamic Regime to silence dissent. On
November 18, 2023, Salehi was released from prison on bail. A
few days later, he issued a public statement revealing the
depth of torture he had endured at the hands of the Islamic
Republic. On November 30, 2023, Toomaj Salehi was re-arrested
on charges of publishing false information and disturbing
public opinion. On April 24, 2024, despite a remand from the
Islamic Republic's Supreme Court, the Islamic Revolutionary
Court overseeing Salehi's case declared the decision of the
Supreme Court to be ``advisory'' and issued a death sentence to
Toomaj Salehi.
(16) Examples of victims of the Islamic Revolutionary
Courts are plentiful. Vahid Afkari is a 37-year-old Iranian who
was arrested along with his brothers Habib and Navid Afkari
during the 2018 Iranian protests. All three were tortured into
confessing to killing a security officer. On September 12,
2020, Navid Afkari was executed. Vahid Afkari remains
imprisoned, and has been held in solitary confinement for over
1,000 days. He is denied medical treatment for the injuries he
has sustained from torture and suicide attempts.
(17) Narges Mohammadi is an Iranian human rights Activist,
the 2023 Nobel Peace Prize recipient, and the vice president of
the Defenders of Human Rights Center, a human rights
organization based in Tehran. She has been repeatedly
prosecuted by the Islamic Republic due to her outspoken
positions against the government's human rights abuses. She is
currently imprisoned, and routinely subjected to prolonged
solitary confinement, psychological torture, and physical
abuse.
(18) Fatemeh Sepehri is an Iranian political and women's
rights activist and a political prisoner. She is a signatory of
the ``Statement of 14 Political Activists,'' a series of open
letters that called for the resignation of the Supreme Leader
of Iran, the abolition of the Islamic Republic, and the
establishment of a secular democracy. She was arrested on
September 21, 2022 during the Woman Life Freedom protests, and
is imprisoned in solitary confinement.
(19) Saman Yasin, a well-known and acclaimed 27-year-old
Kurdish artist and rapper, has been a vocal critic of the
Islamic Republic and openly supported Woman Life Freedom
protestors in his social media. In November 2022, he received a
death sentence, which he appealed. Although the Supreme Court
of the Islamic Republic overturned his death sentence, Yasin
has been denied a fair trial, and suffers ongoing psychological
and physical torture while imprisoned, including involuntary
admissions to psychiatric hospitals. His fate is part of a
larger pattern of torture tactics against political prisoners,
including injections and the administration of unidentified
pills. As a result of his severe and enduring torture, on
February 27, 2024, Saman Yasin wrote an open letter to the head
of the Islamic Republic's judiciary, in which he demanded his
own execution.
(20) Nika Shakarami was a 16-year-old Iranian girl who
actively participated in nonviolent protests after the killing
of Jina Mahsa Amini. She disappeared during the Woman Life
Freedom protests, and her family found her shattered body in a
mortuary ten days after her disappearance. Despite Islamic
Republic authorities denying any wrongdoing, a subsequent
leaked internal Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps document
revealed that she had been taken into custody, bound in a van,
sexually assaulted by one of three men, and spent her final
minutes being fatally beaten by all three men.
(21) Nika Shakarami, along with Sarina Esmailzadeh and
Hadis Najafi, two other young women murdered by the Islamic
Republic, became symbols of the ongoing protests in Iran.
Despite attempts by authorities to suppress information about
Shakarami's death, international media coverage and social
media tributes highlighted her story, sparking outrage and
further fueling the protests. Nika Shakarami is a testament to
the untold number of protestors that never had the prospect of
appearing before an Islamic Revolutionary Court. Had she
survived; she likely would have been taken before an Islamic
Revolutionary Court, based on manufactured charges, for a trial
that would offer no due process, insufficient access to legal
counsel, and false confessions based on torture.
(22) There are also numerous reported cases of American
citizens and U.S. Legal Permanent Residents being arbitrarily
detained, subjected to sham trials, and unjustly imprisoned by
Iranian Revolutionary courts on baseless charges.
(23) Examples of such cases include Jason Rezaian, a
Washington Post journalist who was imprisoned for over 500 days
on charges of espionage, Siamak Namazi, an Iranian American
businessman who was sentenced to 10 years in prison on charges
of spying and collaborating with a hostile government, and Amir
Hekmati, a former U.S. Marine and an Iranian American who
accused of espionage and was sentenced to death, but the
sentence was later overturned and then retried and sentenced to
10 years in prison.
SEC. 3. SANCTIONS ON JUDGES OF THE ISLAMIC REVOLUTIONARY COURTS.
(a) Sense of Congress.--It is the sense of Congress that--
(1) the United States shall stand with and support the
people of Iran in their demand for fundamental human rights and
an end to gender apartheid.
(2) the United States shall continue to hold the Islamic
Republic of Iran, and all its branches of government, including
the judiciary and its judges, accountable for abuses of human
rights, crimes against humanity, corruption, and the export of
terrorism; and
(3) the Islamic Republic must immediately end its gross
violations of internationally recognized human rights.
(b) In General.--
(1) Determination required.--Not later than 90 days and
annually thereafter after the date of the enactment of this
Act, the President shall determine whether the sanctions listed
in paragraph (2) apply with respect to each foreign person
described in subsection (c), and impose all applicable such
sanctions with respect to each such foreign person and entity.
(2) Sanctions listed.--The sanctions listed in this
paragraph are the following:
(A) Sanctions described in section 105(c) of the
Comprehensive Iran Sanctions, Accountability, and
Divestment Act of 2010 (22 U.S.C. 8514(c)).
(B) Sanctions applicable with respect to a person
pursuant to Executive Order 13553 (50 U.S.C. 1701 note;
relating to blocking property of certain persons with
respect to serious human rights abuses by the
Government of Iran).
(C) Sanctions applicable with respect to a person
pursuant to Executive Order 13224 (50 U.S.C. 1701 note;
relating to blocking property and prohibiting
transactions with persons who commit, threaten to
commit, or support terrorism).
(D) Sanctions applicable with respect to a person
pursuant to Executive Order 13818 (relating to blocking
the property of persons involved in serious human
rights abuse or corruption).
(E) Sanctions applicable with respect to a person
pursuant to Executive Order 13876 (relating to imposing
sanctions with respect to Iran).
(F) Penalties and visa ban applicable with respect
to a person pursuant to section 7031(c) of the
Department of State, Foreign Operations, and Related
Programs Appropriations Act, 2021.
(3) Form of determination.--The determination required by
paragraph (1) shall be provided in an unclassified form but may
contain a classified annex provided separately containing
additional contextual information pertaining to justification
for the issuance of any waiver issued, as described in
paragraph (1)(C)(ii). The unclassified portion of such
determination shall be made available on a publicly available
internet website of the Federal Government.
(c) Foreign Persons Described.--The foreign persons described in
this subsection are the following:
(1) Adjudicators and investigators including judges,
prosecutors and investigators of the various branches of the
Islamic Revolutionary Courts involved in overseeing,
committing, or adjudicating based on inhumane treatment of
prisoners of conscious including political prisoners from
detention to sentencing.
(d) Congressional Oversight.--
(1) In general.--Not later than 60 days after receiving a
request from the chairman and ranking member of one of the
appropriate congressional committees with respect to whether a
person meets the criteria of a person described in subsection
(c), the President shall--
(A) determine if the person meets such criteria;
and
(B) submit a classified or unclassified report to
such chairman and ranking member with respect to such
determination that includes a statement of whether or
not the President imposed or intends to impose
sanctions with respect to the person pursuant to this
section.
(2) Appropriate congressional committees defined.--In this
subsection, the term ``appropriate congressional committees''
means--
(A) the Committee on Foreign Affairs of the House
of Representati