[House Hearing, 113 Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
IRAN'S PERSECUTION OF AMERICAN PASTOR ABEDINI WORSENS
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JOINT HEARING
BEFORE THE
SUBCOMMITTEE ON AFRICA, GLOBAL HEALTH,
GLOBAL HUMAN RIGHTS, AND
INTERNATIONAL ORGANIZATIONS
AND THE
SUBCOMMITTEE ON
THE MIDDLE EAST AND NORTH AFRICA
OF THE
COMMITTEE ON FOREIGN AFFAIRS
HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
ONE HUNDRED THIRTEENTH CONGRESS
FIRST SESSION
__________
DECEMBER 12, 2013
__________
Serial No. 113-148
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COMMITTEE ON FOREIGN AFFAIRS
EDWARD R. ROYCE, California, Chairman
CHRISTOPHER H. SMITH, New Jersey ELIOT L. ENGEL, New York
ILEANA ROS-LEHTINEN, Florida ENI F.H. FALEOMAVAEGA, American
DANA ROHRABACHER, California Samoa
STEVE CHABOT, Ohio BRAD SHERMAN, California
JOE WILSON, South Carolina GREGORY W. MEEKS, New York
MICHAEL T. McCAUL, Texas ALBIO SIRES, New Jersey
TED POE, Texas GERALD E. CONNOLLY, Virginia
MATT SALMON, Arizona THEODORE E. DEUTCH, Florida
TOM MARINO, Pennsylvania BRIAN HIGGINS, New York
JEFF DUNCAN, South Carolina KAREN BASS, California
ADAM KINZINGER, Illinois WILLIAM KEATING, Massachusetts
MO BROOKS, Alabama DAVID CICILLINE, Rhode Island
TOM COTTON, Arkansas ALAN GRAYSON, Florida
PAUL COOK, California JUAN VARGAS, California
GEORGE HOLDING, North Carolina BRADLEY S. SCHNEIDER, Illinois
RANDY K. WEBER SR., Texas JOSEPH P. KENNEDY III,
SCOTT PERRY, Pennsylvania Massachusetts
STEVE STOCKMAN, Texas AMI BERA, California
RON DeSANTIS, Florida ALAN S. LOWENTHAL, California
TREY RADEL, Florida GRACE MENG, New York
DOUG COLLINS, Georgia LOIS FRANKEL, Florida
MARK MEADOWS, North Carolina TULSI GABBARD, Hawaii
TED S. YOHO, Florida JOAQUIN CASTRO, Texas
LUKE MESSER, Indiana
Amy Porter, Chief of Staff Thomas Sheehy, Staff Director
Jason Steinbaum, Democratic Staff Director
Subcommittee on Africa, Global Health, Global Human Rights, and
International Organizations
CHRISTOPHER H. SMITH, New Jersey, Chairman
TOM MARINO, Pennsylvania KAREN BASS, California
RANDY K. WEBER SR., Texas DAVID CICILLINE, Rhode Island
STEVE STOCKMAN, Texas AMI BERA, California
MARK MEADOWS, North Carolina
------
Subcommittee on the Middle East and North Africa
ILEANA ROS-LEHTINEN, Florida, Chairman
STEVE CHABOT, Ohio THEODORE E. DEUTCH, Florida
JOE WILSON, South Carolina GERALD E. CONNOLLY, Virginia
ADAM KINZINGER, Illinois BRIAN HIGGINS, New York
TOM COTTON, Arkansas DAVID CICILLINE, Rhode Island
RANDY K. WEBER SR., Texas ALAN GRAYSON, Florida
RON DeSANTIS, Florida JUAN VARGAS, California
TREY RADEL, Florida BRADLEY S. SCHNEIDER, Illinois
DOUG COLLINS, Georgia JOSEPH P. KENNEDY III,
MARK MEADOWS, North Carolina Massachusetts
TED S. YOHO, Florida GRACE MENG, New York
LUKE MESSER, Indiana LOIS FRANKEL, Florida
C O N T E N T S
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Page
WITNESSES
Katrina Lantos Swett, Ph.D., vice chair, U.S. Commission on
International Religious Freedom................................ 9
Ms. Naghmeh Abedini, wife of Pastor Saeed Abedini................ 24
Mr. Jordan Sekulow, executive director, American Center for Law
and Justice.................................................... 31
Daniel Calingaert, Ph.D., executive vice president, Freedom House 39
LETTERS, STATEMENTS, ETC., SUBMITTED FOR THE HEARING
Katrina Lantos Swett, Ph.D.: Prepared statement.................. 12
Ms. Naghmeh Abedini: Prepared statement.......................... 27
Mr. Jordan Sekulow: Prepared statement........................... 34
Daniel Calingaert, Ph.D.: Prepared statement..................... 41
APPENDIX
Hearing notice................................................... 64
Hearing minutes.................................................. 65
The Honorable Christopher H. Smith, a Representative in Congress
from the State of New Jersey, and chairman, Subcommittee on
Africa, Global Health, Global Human Rights, and International
Organizations:
Photograph of Naghmeh Abedini and her children................. 66
Statement for the record from the Honorable Bill Cassidy, a
Representative in Congress from the State of Louisiana....... 67
The Honorable Ileana Ros-Lehtinen, a Representative in Congress
from the State of Florida, and chairman, Subcommittee on the
Middle East and North Africa: Material submitted for the record 68
The Honorable Mark Meadows, a Representative in Congress from the
State of North Carolina: Prepared statement.................... 70
IRAN'S PERSECUTION OF AMERICAN PASTOR ABEDINI WORSENS
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THURSDAY, DECEMBER 12, 2013
House of Representatives,
Subcommittee on Africa, Global Health,
Global Human Rights, and International Organizations
and Subcommittee on the Middle East and North Africa,
Committee on Foreign Affairs,
Washington, DC.
The committees met, pursuant to notice, at 9:30 a.m., in
room 2172 Rayburn House Office Building, Hon. Christopher H.
Smith (chairman of the Subcommittee on Africa, Global Health,
Global Human Rights, and International Organizations)
presiding.
Mr. Smith. The subcommittees will come to order. This is an
important meeting of two subcommittees, the Subcommittee on
Africa, Global Health, Global Human Rights, and International
Organizations and the Subcommittee on the Middle East and North
Africa. We are joined by our very distinguished chairman of
that committee who is also chairman emeritus of the full
committee and who has been absolutely, with a laser beam focus,
looking at issues pertaining to and relating to Iran for the
entirety of the last decade or more, so I want to thank her for
her leadership.
At our full committee hearing on Tuesday, the full Foreign
Affairs Committee, I asked Secretary of State John Kerry
whether he had raised Pastor Saeed Abedini's release during the
Iranian nuclear talks. I read him the following advance excerpt
of the testimony of Naghmeh Abedini, wife of Pastor Saeed
Abedini, who is our very distinguished witness this morning,
and as we all know, who remains imprisoned and subject to
torture in Iran. And this is what she will say in pertinent
part and this is what I had read to the Secretary of State:
``While I am thankful for President Obama's willingness to
express concern about my husband and the other imprisoned
Americans in Iran,'' she said, ``during his recent phone
conversation with Iran's President, Hassan Rouhani, I was
devastated to learn that the administration didn't even ask for
my husband's release when directly seated across the table from
the leaders of the government that holds him captive.''
She went on to say, ``My husband is suffering because he is
a Christian. He is suffering because he is an American. Yet,
his own government, at least the executive and diplomatic
representatives, has abandoned him. Don't we owe it to him as a
nation to stand up for his human rights, for his freedom?''
Secretary Kerry acknowledged that he had not done that, he
had not raised in the negotiations with the Iranians on the
nuclear issue, confirming the awful report that Naghmeh had
already heard.
So as we speak, Pastor Abedini remains imprisoned in Iran,
sharing a cell with violent criminals who have more than once
surrounded Pastor Abedini as he tried to sleep, wielding knives
and threatening his life. Pastor Saeed Abedini is an American
citizen. He went to Iran last year to build an orphanage for
Iranian children. He had been arrested in Iran before, but
released and told he could enter and exit the country for
humanitarian aid work if he agreed to cease pastoring house
churches.
As Pastor Abedini's wife, Naghmeh, will testify today, he
accepted that proposal, but Iran did not uphold its end of the
agreement. Pastor Abedini was arrested in July 2012,
imprisoned, and tried for sharing his religious beliefs and
thereby supposedly undermining the security of Iran. Imagine
that, you share the good news of the Gospel and you threaten
the security of Iran. But he was there to establish an
orphanage.
He was denied contact with his attorney until just before
the trial. The trial was not public, and he and his attorney
were barred from participating in key portions of the trial,
following which a judge sentenced him to 8 years in prison. His
appeals have been denied.
In prison, he has been repeatedly beaten, denied medical
care, and held in solitary confinement. While nuclear talks
played out on the world stage, Iran moved Pastor Abedini to a
prison notorious for housing the worst criminals in Iran. It is
called Rajai Shahr. The very fact that Pastor Abedini was moved
to a dangerous prison than the one he was at previously was
certainly dangerous itself, in the middle of negotiations
confirms that the Iranians recognized him as a potential factor
in the negotiations.
Since August 2012, the United States has reportedly
released four Iranians, including most recently a high-ranking
scientist, who were imprisoned in the U.S. for sanctions
violations. Speaking for myself, I question whether these
releases are unrelated to the nuclear talks. Were they allowed
out in order to create a better atmosphere so the talks could
go forward? And yet, American citizen Saeed Abedini remains in
a hellhole prison in Iran.
The U.S. Government must not waste another opportunity to
secure the release of this brave and courageous father of two
and devoted husband and a great pastor. His case needs to be
front and center in the next round of U.S.-Iranian
negotiations. Time is running out. Naghmeh, Rebecca, and Jacob
need their husband and father home and they need him home now.
I would like to yield to the distinguished gentlelady, the
chairman of the other subcommittee, Ileana Ros-Lehtinen.
Ms. Ros-Lehtinen. Well, thank you so much, Mr. Smith. We
are blessed in Congress to have a leader of human rights with
the passion, the intelligence of Chris Smith. We thank him for
his on-going and relentless pursuit of liberty throughout the
world and respect for human rights. And we are so honored also
to look upon this beautiful portrait of our former Chairman Tom
Lantos. And Chris Smith and Chairman Lantos were a great team.
But he is still with us and we are so fortunate to have one of
his daughters carrying on his work.
And I would like to thank Ms. Abedini for joining us today.
Our thoughts and our prayers are with you. They are with your
family, your husband. And we commend you for your determination
and perseverance to obtain his release.
Last month our Middle East and North Africa Subcommittee,
and then the full Foreign Affairs Committee, as you know,
unanimously passed House Resolution 147, calling on the Iranian
regime to immediately release Pastor Saeed and condemning the
regime's ongoing persecution of religious minorities. This
resolution sends a strong message on behalf of Pastor Saeed,
his family, and the Iranian people whose human rights suffer
under this brutal and this bill states that we stand with them
in solidarity and we will continue to press for Pastor Saeed's
release, and it calls upon the Government of Iran to respect
the rights of its citizens.
Although we are here to discuss in particular the plight of
Pastor Saeed, we must also highlight that there are other
Americans languishing in Iran's prisons or being held captive
by the regime, like South Florida resident and constituent of
Congressman Ted Deutch, the ranking member of our subcommittee,
and that is Bob Levinson. Last month, Bob became the longest-
held American hostage in history, now in captivity in Iran for
over 6 years. Earlier this week, I joined as a co-sponsor of
House Resolution 435, introduced by Ranking Member Deutch,
which calls for Iran's cooperation and immediate return of Bob
Levinson.
So we are here today because Rouhani's empty promises
aren't only about Iran's nuclear programs, but about the
reforms that he promised which have gone unfulfilled as the
regime continues its policy of systematic and widespread
suppression of human rights. On the campaign, Rouhani's
charming words indicated that the regime will ease its
repression of social freedoms and human rights. However, we
must judge this regime not by its words, but by its actions,
and in this regard, it has utterly failed.
Since Rouhani took office, the rate of executions in Iran
has sharply accelerated, with more than 300 executions carried
out since August alone. And on September 2012, Pastor Saeed
Abedini, an American citizen, was convicted on bogus charges
and imprisoned after being accused by the regime of undermining
national security. But his only so-called crimes were what?
Working to establish an orphanage and practicing his Christian
faith. He was supporting and ministering to churches in private
homes, one of the only places in Iran where Christians and
other religious minorities can practice their faith despite the
fear of state persecution. In August, Pastor Saeed's unjust 8-
year sentence was upheld, and last month, as we know, he was
transferred to a brutal prison reserved for Iran's most violent
criminals, where his life is in constant danger.
Sadly, the plight of Pastor Saeed is not an isolated
incident, but it is symptomatic of the Iranian regime's
hostility toward religious minorities. In October, four Iranian
Christians were sentenced to 80 lashes for drinking sacramental
wine during communion, and this past summer an Iranian
Christian convert was sentenced to 10 years in prison for
distributing Bibles. And it is not just Christians who are
persecuted, but others including Muslim minorities and
reformers, who also suffer for their beliefs. For example, the
Baha'i community is systematically targeted and persecuted by
the regime, and more than 100 members of this community and its
leadership are imprisoned. In fact, under Iranian law, Baha'i
members can be killed with impunity. For these flagrant
violations, the U.S. has designated Iran as Country of
Particular Concern since 1999, a regime that does not respect
the fundamental human rights of religious freedom. For many
persons this is a central aspect of their identity and of their
life. This a country that won't respect other freedoms. We saw
this when the regime crushed the freedoms of speech and
assembly during the Green Revolution of 2009, when the
administration sadly missed a critical opportunity to express
support for the Iranian people.
I was a lead sponsor of the Iran Threat Reduction and Syria
Human Rights Act that was signed into law last August, which
expanded sanctions related to human rights abuses in Iran, and
though the administration has selectively applied some of these
sanctions, more needs to be done. We must enforce all of the
sanctions, including travel bans and asset freezes on regime
officials responsible for committing human rights abuses. If
the international community doesn't hold this regime
accountable, no one will.
I look forward to hearing from our witnesses on how we can
help bring Pastor Saeed home, reunite him with his wife and his
children, where he belongs. I thank the chairman again for
holding this important hearing.
Mr. Smith. Thank you very much, Chairwoman Ileana Ros-
Lehtinen for your very eloquent statement and again for your
leadership on all things pertaining to Iran.
Mr. Meadows?
Mr. Meadows. Thank you, Mr. Chairman and Madam Chairman for
calling this hearing and I thank each of you for being here.
And for some of you who we have had here before, thank you for
fighting for those who many times don't have a voice. And so I
have got an opening statement, but I am going to speak probably
more from the heart instead of going to that.
Right now, we are in a critical time. We have negotiations
going on with a country that quite frankly is not built on a
foundation of trust. We don't trust them. They don't trust us.
And yet, here we are fundamentally dealing with an issue with
Pastor Saeed Abedini and his detainment and imprisonment in a
situation that we would find just deplorable. But more
importantly, the message is not getting out because so many
times when we think of people in prison, we think of them there
for just cause and I had the opportunity to look into this in
detail. And yet, here is a man who agreed with the intelligence
ministry not to conduct a particular activity for many years
ago, would be granted to be able to come back and forth and
work to establish an orphanage that was sanctioned by the
Iranian Government. And so here he was supposedly working with
the government under their approval and yet, he is tried and
convicted and put in prison, but really not even with due
process.
So we are embarking right now on a situation where we are
working with a nation on something far greater than that with
regards to a nuclear agreement. That can only be negotiated
based on mutual respect and trust and yet the foundation of
trust has been violated with this particular situation and it
is not being rectified. Over 440 days without a husband and a
father. How many more Christmases are going to come and pass
where this injustice is not rectified? If there is any message
that Foreign Minister Zarif and the Iranian Government, if they
want to have a message of trust and mutual trust, this request
of releasing this individual at a minimum would say we are
trying to negotiate in good faith and it would send messages to
the entire nation that they want to operate in good faith.
And so I think the message needs to be that if they cannot
release this individual and others held without due process,
then how are we to trust them on much greater positions that
have national and international consequences? I would ask Mr.
Chairman that my full opening statement be submitted for the
record, if possible.
Mr. Smith. Mr. Meadows, thank you very much. The chair
recognizes Mr. Chabot, the chairman of the Asia and Pacific
Subcommittee. We have four subcommittee chairmen here today,
again, a testament to the concern that is shared across the
aisle and throughout the entire House of Representatives.
Mr. Chabot.
Mr. Chabot. Thank you. I will be brief. I commend Chairmen
Smith and Ros-Lehtinen for holding this timely hearing today.
In light of recent developments in U.S.-Iranian relations, the
case of Pastor Saeed Abedini and his imprisonment raises very
grave concerns. If Iran expects to engage in a more transparent
and honest relationship with the U.S. and other members of the
global community, it must cease its egregious human rights
abuses and adopt standards practiced by most of the civilized
world.
I think my colleagues would agree that the imprisonment of
Pastor Abedini is a prime example of Iran's use of abhorrent
practices to deny human rights protections to its religious
minorities. If the Obama administration is going to negotiate
with Iran concerning economic sanctions, the release of Pastor
Abedini must be a priority. It should have been a precondition
of negotiations from the start. I yield back.
Mr. Smith. Thank you, Chairman Chabot. Ranking Member
Deutch.
Mr. Deutch. Thank you, Mr. Chairman. I appreciate it.
Thanks for hosting this hearing on Pastor Abedini, detained
American citizens, and the broader human rights situation in
Iran. I also want to thank our witnesses, especially Ms.
Abedini for being here today. Please know that Congress is
committed to bringing your husband and all three detained
Americans home as soon as possible.
Our legislature is divided on many issues, but I am proud
to say that Congress has been and always will be united in its
support for international religious freedom and for protecting
Americans overseas. That is why I am proud to support
legislation from Mr. Cassidy, that calls for the release of
Pastor Abedini and condemns the Government of Iran for its
persecution of religious minorities.
At a time when Iran is seeking to reengage with the
international community, its ongoing persecution of Pastor
Abedini is utterly deplorable. His arbitrary arrest and the
complete lack of due process is bad enough, but his transfer to
a more dangerous prison that is filled with Iran's most violent
criminals demonstrates why the United States must do everything
in our power to end his continued and unjust imprisonment.
Unfortunately, Pastor Abedini's persecution is just the latest
in a string of appalling actions the Iranian regime has taken
against American citizens.
Mr. Amir Hekmati has also been unfairly detained in Iran
for more than 2 years. And Iran is also suspected of having
significant knowledge about the whereabouts of my constituent,
Robert Levinson. As many of you know, in March 2007, Mr.
Levinson was taken hostage while visiting Iran's Kish Island. A
retired FBI agent, husband, father to seven children, and
grandfather of two, Mr. Levinson has missed 6 years worth of
birthdays, anniversaries, weddings, and other milestones.
November 26th was this 2,455th day in captivity, making him the
longest held American hostage in our history. In response to
his situation, this week my colleague and friend, Ms. Ros-
Lehtinen and I introduced H. Res. 435 urging Iran's Government
to cooperate in his case and return Mr. Levinson home to his
family as soon as possible.
Yet, Iran's egregious human rights record is not limited to
American citizens, nor is its vile mistreatment of its people
new. Iran routinely imposes severe restrictions on expression,
association, and assembly. Political activists and human rights
defenders are routinely and arbitrarily arrested. Torture is
common and is committed with impunity. Women, religious and
ethnic minorities and members of the LGBT community are all
routinely persecuted.
Since taking office, President Rouhani has spoken about the
need to repair Iran's relationship with the world and to ensure
the rights of his people. Unfortunately, this rhetoric has not
been matched with action. Hundreds of political prisoners
remain in prison including former presidential candidates, Mir-
Hossein Mousavi and Mehdi Karroubi, who recently spent their
1,000th day under house arrest. This year alone, more than 500
Iranians have been executed, yielding Iran's highest number of
executions ever in a rate that doubles Ahmadinejad's last year
in office. And in the past few months, there has been a
stunning wave of repression targeting the media and civil
society that included banning of a prominent reformist daily
and the arrests of a number of prominent political actors.
All of this shows that Iran continues to flagrantly violate
basic human rights and is doing nothing to uphold Article 18 of
the Universal Declaration of Human Rights of which it is a
signatory, that guarantees the right to freedom, religion,
conscience, and thought. While most of the world is focused on
the nuclear deal with Iran, today provides a timely opportunity
to remind the people of Iran that we stand with them in their
quest for dignity and for freedom. Preventing Iran from
obtaining nuclear weapons capabilities is our paramount
objective, but it must not, it must not impact our support for
human rights in Iran. We must continue to press Iran to treat
their people with due process and we must act to ensure the
release of all political prisoners including Pastor Abedini,
Amir Hekmati, and Robert Levinson. This hearing is an important
step in this process, Mr. Chairman, and I yield back.
Mr. Smith. Thank you very much, Mr. Deutch. Ms. Walorski,
Congressman.
Ms. Walorski. Thank you, Mr. Chairman, and Chairman Ros-
Lehtinen for allowing me to sit in on our committee today. I
appreciate it. It is a very gracious offer.
This case is one of great personal importance to me and I
am grateful to all the witnesses for being here today. Ms.
Abedini, my family and I pray for you every day and for your
husband. My husband and I spent 4 years as missionaries in
Eastern Europe involved in orphanage ministry as well and we
appreciate your heart and can relate to your heart and we
appreciate that.
I am a co-sponsor of the resolution calling for your
husband's release. I have signed on to multiple letters in his
behalf and frankly, I am deeply embarrassed which is why I
wanted to be able to come and sit in on this hearing today.
Congress should not have to urge the administration to act in a
case like this which involves the state sponsor of terrorism
imprisoning an American citizen and I am deeply disappointed
that the release was not a prerequisite for any Iranian peace
deal.
Once again, I would like to publicly urge our President and
Secretary Kerry to do everything they can to secure the release
of not only your husband, but the other Americans being held as
well. I would also say that I am deeply, profoundly impacted by
the increase in religious persecution under President Rouhani
as we in this country so deeply value religious freedom and
believe in religions free of persecution around the world that
people should be able to hold their beliefs and be able to
express their religious opinions as well. So I would just like
to thank you for being here today and offer my support and
thank you, Mr. Chairman, for allowing me to graciously sit on
your committee.
Mr. Smith. Thank you, Ms. Walorski. The chair recognizes
the gentlelady from New York, Ms. Meng.
Ms. Meng. I would like to thank our subcommittee chairs and
ranking members for calling today's important hearing. We must
keep our attention on the persecution of Pastor Abedini and
insist that our Government officials demand his release in all
meetings they have with their Iranian counterparts. Each and
every human life is precious and as Members of Congress, we
have a particular duty to look out for our citizens who are
persecuted and wrongly jailed in distant lands. The Ayatollahs
in Iran must know where we stand and must know that we view
their continued mistreatment of Pastor Abedini as indicative of
a lack of good faith on a range of other issues.
Here in Congress, we will do whatever is in our power to
bring back your husband, Ms. Abedini, Amir Hekmati, and Robert
Levinson back home to their families here in America. Thank you
and I yield back.
Mr. Smith. Thank you very much, Ms. Meng. I would like to
recognize Chairman Frank Wolf, and just before I do, note that
last March, Chairman Wolf as chairman of the Lantos Commission
welcomed Ms. Abedini to the Congress and she made a point at
that hearing that the State Department had said, ``There is
nothing that they could do.'' Chairman Wolf's hearing was a
catalyst for at least some engagement and some high-level
response and I want to thank the chairman for that. And I would
also note parenthetically that Dr. Swett is the vice chair of
the Commission on International Religious Freedom. That
commission was created by Mr. Wolf's bill, the International
Religious Freedom Act of 1998 and so we do have an expert here
and a man who really made a huge difference and I recognize the
chairman.
Mr. Wolf. Thank you, Mr. Chairman. I have no comments. I
just wanted to welcome the witnesses and say hello to Ms.
Abedini. Thank you very much.
Mr. Smith. Thank you very much. I would like to now welcome
our very distinguished witnesses, beginning first with Dr.
Katrina Lantos Swett who is the vice chair of the U.S.
Commission on International Religious Freedom, an independent
U.S. Government commission that monitors the universal rights
to freedom of religion or belief abroad. She established the
Lantos Foundation for Human Rights and Justice in 2008 and
serves as its president and chief executive officer. This
organization is proudly carrying on the unique legacy of her
dad, the late Congressman Tom Lantos with whom many of us
served and we are very, very honored to call him friend. She
currently teaches human rights and foreign policy at Tufts
University and has also worked on Capitol Hill as a consultant.
We will then hear from Naghmeh Abedini, wife of Pastor
Saeed Abedini. She is a U.S. citizen and was born in Iran and
moved to the United States with her family when she was nine.
Her husband Pastor Saeed Abedini, as we all know, is currently
serving an 8-year sentence in the brutal Rajai Shahr prison in
Iran. In 2002, in a visit to Tehran, Naghmeh met Saeed and
began assisting him in his ministry to house churches in Tehran
and they were married in 2004. She has been apart from her
husband for more than a year as he remains imprisoned. They
have two young children, Rebecca and Jacob, and no one has done
more on behalf of any imprisoned person that I have ever seen,
and I have been here 33 years, than this very devoted, and very
articulate wife of Saeed Abedini.
We will then hear from Mr. Jordan Seulow who is Pastor
Abedini's attorney. He is the executive director of the
American Center for Law and Justice. He is also the host of
radio and television programs featuring elected officials. He
oversees much of ACLJ's international work, engaging with
government officials and international leaders on human rights
issues around the world, including, and especially, religious
freedom.
We will then hear from Daniel Calingaert who is executive
vice president at Freedom House where he oversees contributions
to policy debate on democracy and human rights issues and
outreach. He previously supervised Freedom House's civil
society and media programs worldwide and contributes frequently
to policy and media discussions on Internet freedom. Prior to
joining Freedom House, Dr. Calingaert was associate director of
the American University Center for Democracy and Election
Management and associate director of the Commission on Federal
Election Reform. He also served as director for Asia and as
deputy director of Eastern Europe at the International
Republican Institute.
Dr. Swett, if you could begin.
STATEMENT OF KATRINA LANTOS SWETT, PH.D., VICE CHAIR, U.S.
COMMISSION ON INTERNATIONAL RELIGIOUS FREEDOM
Ms. Lantos Swett. Thank you so much. It is always a great
honor for me to appear before this committee and to have the
chance to speak with some of the very distinguished colleagues
of my late father, and of course, I am always mindful when I am
here that I am testifying under his watchful eye and so I will
try to be on good behavior. I also want to just say briefly
what a privilege it is to testify with Ms. Abedini. She is a
towering example of love and devotion and courage. And I just
want to say to you that you will prevail in your wonderful
mission to free your husband. I remember another beautiful
young wife, Avital Sharansky, from another generation who
tirelessly worked walking the halls of Congress and meeting
with the media to press for freedom for her husband, Natan
Sharansky, and she was ultimately successfully. You will be as
well and we are all standing with you and behind you and next
to you.
I want to thank Representatives Smith and Ros-Lehtinen and
your subcommittees for holding this hearing and inviting USCIRF
to testify. With your approval, I will submit my written
testimony for the record.
Mr. Smith. Without objection, so ordered.
Ms. Lantos Swett. Thank you. I commend your focus on the
continued deterioration of religious freedom conditions in
Iran, most notably for Christians and other religious
minorities and for highlighting the egregious treatment of
Pastor Saeed Abedini. USCIRF stands with Ms. Abedini and her
family, has called repeatedly for the Pastor's release, and
urges the U.S. Government at the highest levels to demand his
release.
Unfortunately, the appalling treatment of Pastor Abedini
reflects the dismal reality of religious freedom and human
rights in Iran today. The rights and beliefs defining the
Iranian dictatorship's character remains self-consciously
religious and inescapably theocratic. Any Iranian dissenting
from the government's interpretation of Shia Islam may be
considered the state's enemy and a potential target for abuse.
Because religion matters significantly to Iran's Government, we
must look at how the government treats the right to religious
freedom to assess the overall status or direction of human
rights. That lends also as necessary to evaluate Iran's current
President, Hassan Rouhani. The number of Christians and Baha'is
jailed during his short tenure has increased and a crackdown on
Protestant Christians has brought numerous arrests.
In June 2009, Iran reached a watershed moment when after a
national election, citizens protested the legitimacy of its
outcome. Tehran responded with brutal repression. Since then,
human rights and religious freedom conditions have worsened to
levels unseen since the early years after the '79 revolution.
The United States, since 1999, annually, has designated
Iran a Country of Particular Concern or CPC. Its government
continues to rank among the world's worst religious freedom
abusers engaging in and tolerating systematic, ongoing, and
egregious violations. Members of religious minorities,
including Baha'is or Zoroastrians, Christians, Jews, Muslims
belonging to minority Sufi and Sunni sects, and even Muslims
part of Iran's Shia majority have had their fundamental rights
abused.
Among Iran's minority religious communities, the Baha'is
long have been subject to particularly severe religious freedom
abuses. Besides its severe mistreatment of Baha'is, Iran's
Government discriminates against and represses Christians.
While all of Iran's Christians face the regime that restricts
their rights, Tehran reserves particularly harsh treatment for
Protestant Christians. Next to Baha'is authorities view the
Protestant community as the most serious competitor of the
theocratic government for Iranians' hearts and minds.
Iranian Christians, including Protestants, constitute less
than 1 percent of Iran's 75 million citizens and it reflects
the fundamental weakness and insecurity of the regime that they
should consider them such a threat. Unlike Iran's ethnic
Christian population, the vast majority of Iran's Protestants
are converts from Islam. While conversion is a fundamental
freedom that international law and covenants guarantee, Iran's
Government views conversion from Islam as an act against Islam
and Iran's character as an Islamic state, in other words, as an
act of apostasy, punishable by death.
Revolutionary Courts also charge converts with political
crimes such as acting against national security or contact with
a foreign enemy. Hundreds of Christians, mostly Protestants,
have been arbitrarily arrested and detained. The U.N. special
rapporteur's October report found that since 2010 more than 300
Christians have been arrested and detained. As of July, at
least 20 Christians were detained or imprisoned. In a
particularly outrageous miscarriage of justice, Judge Pir-
Abassi, notorious for perpetrating religious freedom violations
sentenced Saeed Abedini, an Iranian-born American pastor on
January 27, 2013 to 8 years in prison for ``threatening the
national security of Iran.'' His crimes? Participating in
Iran's house church movement and raising money for an
orphanage. Human rights groups view his trial, like those of
other condemned, as unfair and the legal process deeply flawed.
He spent many weeks in solitary confinement and suffered mental
and physical abuse while at Evin Prison. Last month, Pastor
Abedini was transferred to the Gohardasht Prison outside Tehran
which is known for its harsh and unsanitary conditions.
Below are selected USCIRF recommendations. Others and more
detailed ones can be found in our written testimony. First, the
U.S. Government should continue to designate Iran as a Country
of Particular Concern. Second, Congress should reauthorize for
multiple years, and the President should sign into law, the
Lautenberg amendment which has provided a lifeline for Iranian
religious minorities. Third, the U.S. at the highest level
should call on the Iranian Government to release all prisoners
who have been jailed due to their religion or belief and drop
all charges against those with pending cases, including, and I
hope you will bear with me as I show the pictures of these
individuals, because we must never forget, these are real flesh
and blood human beings who are being persecuted.
So those we call upon to be released are Saeed Abedini,
Farshid Fathi, Benham Irani, Vahid Hakkani, and there are too
many others of these Christians, but some of them are noted in
my written testimony. Among the Shia Muslims who are
persecuted, Ayatollah Hossein Kazemeni Boroujerdi, the Baha'i
Seven including Fariba Kamalabadi and Mahvash Sabet, the Baha'i
educators, Faran Hesami and Riaz Sobhani; and finally, the Sufi
activist, Hamid-Reza Moradi.
USCIRF encourages representatives and this is really
directed at each one of you, to join the Defending Freedoms
Project, an initiative of the Tom Lantos Human Rights
Commission in conjunction with USCIRF and Amnesty
International. Members adopt a prisoner of conscience and
advocate on their behalf and shine a light on the conditions in
the country and the government that imprisons them. The U.S.
Government should continue to identify Iranian Government
agencies and officials responsible for particularly severe
violations of religious freedom, bar them from entry into the
U.S. and freeze their assets.
My written testimony notes nine individuals, including the
Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei. Just last week, national
security advisor, Susan Rice, reaffirmed the administration's
commitment to continue to sanction Iran's human rights abusers.
We welcome further action by the Treasury and State
Departments, especially given that the European Union has far
outpaced the United States in identifying and sanctioning these
violators.
Iran's religious freedom abuses demand the world's
attention and action, especially given that the Iranian
Government may use efforts to resolve the nuclear issue to
divert attention from the increasing mistreatment of Christians
and other religious minorities. We cannot let that happen. If
Pastor Abedini and religious minorities in Iran ever needed a
voice to condemn Iran's abusive practices it is now. The Obama
administration and Members of Congress should insist that Iran
demonstrate its commitment to peaceful intentions abroad by
ceasing its war at home against its own people and their
fundamental rights including the right of freedom of religion
or belief. Thank you and I look forward to answering your
questions.
[The prepared statement of Ms. Lantos Swett follows:]
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----------
Mr. Smith. Dr. Swett, I just want to thank you very much
for your testimony and for bringing additional focus on all of
the other imprisoned individuals who are there because of their
faith.
Ms. Abedini, it is a high honor and privilege to welcome
you to the two subcommittees.
STATEMENT OF MS. NAGHMEH ABEDINI, WIFE OF PASTOR SAEED ABEDINI
Ms. Abedini. Thank you, Mr. Chairman, and members of the
subcommittees. My name is Naghmeh Abedini. I have submitted my
full statement for the record and I would like to use this time
to tell the story of our family and ask for your assistance.
Mr. Smith. Without objection, your and all the witnesses'
full statements and any papers you would like to attach to the
record will be made a part of the record.
Ms. Abedini. Thank you. When I spoke in front of the Tom
Lantos Human Rights Commission in March of this year, I had
anticipated that I would battle the Iranian Government for my
husband's freedom. I never anticipated that I would also have
to battle my own Government and that the journey would become
even much more difficult than it had been.
My husband is suffering because he is a Christian. He is
suffering because he is an American. Yet, his own government
did not fight for him when his captors were across the table
from them. Saeed converted from Islam to Christianity in the
year 2000 after having a radical encounter with Jesus and in
that encounter Jesus Christ told Saeed that he was coming back
soon and to go preach the Gospel. And from there his life was
transformed and if he would sit here to testify today, he would
say he found true joy, love, and peace that he could not find
in his former religion.
So today, Saeed sits in that Iranian prison being tortured
for his faith. He will not deny the faith that has saved him,
that his given him life. He refuses to deny his faith in Jesus
and return to Islam. When the Iranian Government sentenced him
to 8 years in prison in January of this year, they went back to
the years 2000 and 2005, the year of his conversion and the
year where the house churches were started and he was working
under a more moderate government. Khatami was the name of the
President previous before President Ahmadinejad. And at that
time, he was working under the supervision of a government-
approved building church. The Iranian Government was well aware
of the house church movement and was allowing it. So for them
to have arrested him in the year 2012 when he was working with
the Iranian Government on a government-approved orphanage and
to say that his crime dated back to 13 years earlier when he
was working under a different administration, under a different
President, was unbelievable. And to say that he was undermining
the national security of Iran by having started those house
churches, Christian gatherings, and in the court hearing, they
actually said he conducted soft war. It is unbelievable that
they would consider peaceful gatherings of Christians an act of
war.
As many of you who have mentioned today, Saeed has been
tortured. He has been beaten, abused, and told to deny his
Christian faith and that if he would return to Islam, he would
be freed. He has been in that prison, and the kids and I have
not seen him since June of last year, but he has been sitting
in Evin Prison since September. And recently last month, he was
moved to Rajad Shahr Prison where his condition has worsened
and the kids and I fear for his life.
I want to share a little bit of a personal story here. This
is the first day of school. It was a very painful time. I am
trying to smile. But tears were streaming down my face as I got
my two kids ready for school, knowing that their dad was
missing. And as I took them to school, I could see their
wandering eyes looking at other daddies holding their kids and
putting them to school. And I was trying to distract them, but
it was a painful time for them to know that their daddy was
missing and it was a painful time for me. It has been hard. It
has been a struggle as a mom watching as my 7-year-old and my
5-year-old cry themselves to sleep every single night for the
last 444 days. And knowing that unless we get Saeed out
quickly, he might serve the 8 years, or even more, or he might
not even survive that prison sentence.
He wrote a recent letter to my daughter on her seventh
birthday and he had seen a picture of her and his parents when
they visit him in prison, they say that when they hold the
pictures of the kids in front of him, he just cries. And he
wrote in a letter, he said,
``It is so hard and so heartbreaking for me to see
these pictures and to know that I am not there beside
you as you grow. I came here to help the kids that did
not have mommies and daddies, but my own kids lost
their daddy. This breaks my heart so much. I want you
to know that I did not want to put so my pressure on
your little shoulders, my precious children.''
While I am grateful for the official declaration to
national media and public acknowledgment from our Government,
it is not enough. We need to see action to back our rhetoric in
the living breathing form of Saeed Abedini, alive and well,
having been immediately released to the reuniting embrace of
our family. Not all Americans are Christians, but every
American regardless of their belief, needs to be reassured and
know that our Government will take decisive action to protect
us if our fundamental rights are violated.
An American President who has taken his oath of office with
honorable intention and is attuned to the international issues
will recognize Iran's treatment of Saeed for the assault that
it is on our national security. For Iran's treatment of Saeed
Abedini is not about one American citizen experiencing a living
nightmare for his religious belief. Iran's treatment of Saeed
Abedini is an experiment. Iran is curious. How strong is our
American President? How serious is he about American security?
Would he act immediately with firm resolve to protect and to
defend?
Time is of the essence. Iran's experiment for evaluating
the integrity of Americans' response to assault on her security
is almost complete. And Iran is not the only country watching
our reaction. Even if our President can't see the reality, the
rest of the world can. In the interest of Americans' confidence
in the competency of her government officials, her national
security and international standing, Saeed Abedini needs to be
released now.
I want to say that I can't express how grateful I am to the
Members of Congress who have refused to let my husband be
forgotten. And I would like to end with as we approach
Christmas, it is a joyful time of the year, but it is a painful
time for our family to celebrate another year without my
husband.
I want to end with this, Saeed is in that prison because he
believes ``unto us a child is born, unto us a son is given; and
the government will be upon his shoulder. His name will be
called Wonderful, Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father,
Prince of Peace.'' And this season, I not only pray for the
release of my husband, but I hope and I pray that our
Government would realize where we have fallen from and how far
we have fallen and that we would return to the source of
blessing. May God bless America, the land that I love. Thank
you. God bless you.
[The prepared statement of Ms. Abedini follows:]
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----------
Mr. Smith. Ms. Abedini, thank you so very much for those
powerful words and that testimony causes every one of us to
redouble our efforts to do everything possible to ensure that
your husband is released immediately, so thank you so very
much.
Mr. Sekulow.
STATEMENT OF MR. JORDAN SEKULOW, EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR, AMERICAN
CENTER FOR LAW AND JUSTICE
Mr. Sekulow. Chairman Smith and Chairman Ros-Lehtinen, the
ranking member Deutch, the other co-chairs and chairs of
subcommittees that are here today, and members of the
subcommittees, I am deeply honored to present this report on
behalf of Pastor Saeed and Naghmeh Abedini as their attorney,
as an organization that represents them and their two children.
They are American children, Rebecca and Jacob. My primary
purpose for submitting this testimony is to impress upon
Congress the desperate need for great urgency as Pastor Saeed
is in a dire predicament. Congress has done more than any
branch of government. Congress has been there. And it has been
bipartisan.
First, let me begin by thanking you and your staffs for
having this hearing and we started back in March at the Lantos
Commission and now here. Months later, the United States, in an
unprecedented move that we did not predict or could not predict
then, is now sitting with Iran. And it is important for us to
point out right now that we don't see this religious liberty at
all as a partisan issue. So I want to recognize that the
unbelievable bipartisan efforts that have occurred within this
Congress on behalf of Pastor Saeed Abedini we don't forget that
and when we speak out on Saeed's behalf and if we are critical
of the administration, we always make sure to mention that
there has been that bipartisan support.
I am hopeful that today's hearing will highlight the
commitment to this case that so many of you have shown and the
world will hear the U.S. Government speaking with one voice. It
is so clear, one voice, in strong defense of our fellow citizen
Pastor Saeed Abedini, at such a critical juncture with the U.S.
Government literally sitting across the table from Iran. We
could never have imagined that would occur when we first
testified before the Lantos Commission in March. At the table,
for the first time in 34 years. We need to ensure that Pastor
Saeed and the other Americans mentioned here today, wrongfully
detained, are seen as not a marginal issue, but an essential,
of those ongoing diplomatic talks. Pastor Saeed Abedini, a U.S.
citizen, has been unnecessarily separated from his wife,
Naghmeh and two children for 17 months, 444 days.
The Islamic Republic of Iran has arbitrarily detained and
imprisoned Pastor Saeed, subjecting him to violence and abuse,
violating both Iranian law and international norms. His trial
lacked transparency and due process and yet appeals courts in
Tehran upheld his conviction, an 8-year prison sentence. Pastor
Saeed has exhausted all legal remedies in Iran to appeal this
arbitrary conviction and his detention. His freedom now rests
solely on the success of diplomatic efforts by the United
States Government and world leaders dedicated to human rights.
Now Naghmeh has outlined the time line of Saeed's case in a
more detailed outline as in my submitted remarks.
Allow me to briefly highlight just a couple of more
egregious facts about the legal proceedings. First, Saeed was
detained arbitrarily and while conducting humanitarian work
with the full approval of the Iranian Government. Next, Saeed
was imprisoned and subjected to solitary confinement, without
even being informed about the charges against him. Third, Saeed
was informed of the official charges against him less than a
week before his sham trial and denied access to his attorney
until less than 24 hours before that trial. Finally, Saeed and
his attorney were barred from attending the second half of the
trial. The half in which ``key witness testimony'' was taken,
thereby denying his legal team the ability to question or even
know who those witnesses were. Predictably, this resulted in
Saeed's conviction, an 8-year prison sentence on January 27,
2013.
Judge Pir-Abassi, who presided over Pastor Saeed's trial,
has earned the nickname the hanging judge. Despite the fact
that Judge Pir-Abassi has been individually sanctioned by the
European Union and that the U.S. Commission on International
Religious Freedom under the chair of Ms. Swett and also now
vice chair, has repeatedly made a similar recommendation to the
United States Department of State. To date, the U.S. has failed
to place any sanctions on Judge Pir-Abassi. The EU has acted.
The United States has not.
You heard from Naghmeh about the horrific prison conditions
that Saeed is enduring, that he is being denied basic medical
care and that he has been transferred to a much more difficult
prison than Evin Prison. See, this is Rajai Shahr Prison, built
for 5,000 violent criminals, real criminals, murderers,
rapists, drug dealers, people convicted and sentenced to death
or life in prison. Built for 5,000 inmates, it is currently
housing approximately 22,000. It is a prison out of control
with violence. To define the situation as inhumane would be a
gross understatement. In addition to the horrific abuse and
torture Pastor Saeed has faced at the hands of his own brutal
Iranian captors, Pastor Saeed has not always had the full
backing of his own government. And I want to be clear here, I
mean the executive branch. Members of Congress have been with
us on both sides, Republican and Democrat, since the beginning.
When the Iranian Government initially detained Pastor
Saeed, the U.S. State Department excused its lack of assistance
on the fact that the U.S. lacked any diplomatic ties with Iran.
That doesn't work any more. So now when the U.S. has
historically communicated with, sits across from the table of
the Iranian Government, the U.S. Government has still failed to
secure the release of Pastor Saeed and the other Americans in
prison.
As Naghmeh pointed out, this Congress has spoken with
strength and unity on behalf of Pastor Saeed and we are
grateful that President Obama expressed his concern about the
Americans imprisoned in Iran on his historic phone call with
Iranian President Hassan Rouhani back in September. But as you
all know, as Members of Congress, as principals, if there is no
follow up to your discussion, little gets done. Everyone has a
lot to do. And you have staff, you have staff that you rely to
make sure what you have agreed to on phone calls or said you
will do is done. Yet, 2 days ago, Secretary of State Kerry sat
at this table and to you Chairman Smith, he said that this
matter is a priority for him. But numerous statements from his
Department claim that Saeed was either not brought or only
discussed on the margins. For us, you can understand the
incompetence. Was he brought up? Was he on the margins?
If you look at Secretary Kerry's statements to you,
Chairman Smith, it is very difficult to tell. He made a pretty
broad statement of no. But you have had others including those
who were even going before their hearings in the Senate for
confirmation yesterday tell Senator Rubio that he was brought
up on the margins of the P5+1. So who is telling the truth? We
were told he was by the State Department. But then when
Secretary Kerry testified and there are other statements we can
point to as well, the Deputy National Security Advisory Tony
Blinken said on CNN to Wolf Blitzer, no, it was not, it was not
part of the agenda. But yet, the National Security Council
spokesperson Ben Rhodes later that day on CNN said it was on
the margins. On the margins is bad enough, not at all is even
worse. We don't know which one of those to believe.
And that is why we believe, Mr. Chairman, that that offer
from Secretary Kerry to hold that classified briefing for
Members of Congress should be absolutely acted upon and we
would welcome the opportunity to provide you with the kind of
questions and information that we have received from the State
Department so that you can get the answers and we can hear back
from you at least to know whether you are satisfied with what
we believe is our Government's incompetence.
Let me just close by expressing my gratitude to both
subcommittees for taking an active role in Pastor Saeed's case.
And just to highlight again that while our Government sat
across the table from the Iranian delegation, Saeed was
transferred to a worse prison. Was it on the margins or was it
not on the agenda? That is an answer we need from the United
States executive branch and from the Obama administration.
Thank you, Mr. Chairman.
[The prepared statement of Mr. Sekulow follows:]
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----------
Mr. Smith. Thank you, Mr. Sekulow, and we will indeed
follow up with that classified briefing. I, and I know everyone
else who is concerned about Pastor Abedini, will be raising
this issue repeatedly going forward at every venue where we
have an interface with the administration because there was a
sense of conflicting information even as the Secretary of State
spoke. So thank you for your testimony and for being an
excellent lawyer on behalf of Mr. Abedini.
Mr. Calingaert.
STATEMENT OF DANIEL CALINGAERT, PH.D., EXECUTIVE VICE
PRESIDENT, FREEDOM HOUSE
Mr. Calingaert. Thank you, Mr. Chairman, Madam Chairman,
honorable members. I appreciate the opportunity to speak to you
today. I want to thank you for your leadership in championing
the case of Pastor Abedini and pressing for his release. Sadly,
the kinds of abuses that he suffers are all too common in Iran.
During the campaign for the Presidency of Iran, Hassan Rouhani
repeatedly promised to release all political prisoners and to
make a change in favor of free speech and media freedom. The
record of his first 4 months in office shows otherwise. He has
yet to live up to these promises.
Fifteen prominent political prisoners were released in
September, but approximately 800 dissidents including human
rights defenders, journalists, and political activists remain
unjustly detained in Iran. The leaders of the Green Movement,
Mir-Hossein Mousavi, Mehdi Karroubi, and Zahra Rahnavard are
still under house arrest. While some limited space has opened
up for women's rights activists, the overall situation for
human rights in Iran is as grim under President Rouhani as it
was before.
In the past few weeks, Iran's Interior Ministry and
Revolutionary Guards have carried out a new wave of arrests to
stifle free expression. At least 38 people were arrested,
including editors and staff of a technology Web site, Narenji,
and activists in the Province of Kerman who were accused of
receiving foreign assistance to produce online content that
undermines the Islamic regime. These arrests come on the heels
of a December 3rd court ruling that exonerated government
officials accused of murdering Sattar Beheshti, a blogger who
was detained by the Iranian cyber police, and was later found
dead in his jail cell with bruises on his body.
Iran is second only to China in the number of executions it
carries out. This year, 668 reported executions have already
taken place. Virtually all capital cases lack internationally
recognized standards of due process and death sentences are
often imposed for relatively minor crimes such as drug
possession. The Iranian regime, dominated by Shiite clerics and
Revolutionary Guard commanders is highly repressive. It
systematically tramples political and civil rights. In Freedom
House's annual report on freedom in the world, Iran receives a
rating of six on a scale of one to seven, where seven is the
lowest score.
The election of Rouhani was welcomed by some in Iran and
abroad because he was the least conservative of the candidates,
but his election was anything but fair. Over 600 candidates had
registered to run in that election, but only 6 names appeared
on the ballot and who made that decision? The Guardian Council,
12 Islamic clerics and jurists, not the voters.
The media environment in Iran is among the most restrictive
in the world. Iran ranks 191st out of 197 countries in Freedom
House's annual ratings on media freedom. The government
directly controls all television and radio broadcasting and
print media, blogs, and news Web site are severely censored.
Restrictions on online space are equally, if not more severe.
In the latest edition of Freedom House's rankings on Internet
freedom which covered 60 countries, Iran came in the very last
place.
With all that is at stake in the negotiations with Iran on
its nuclear program, there is a temptation to put aside human
rights issues because they might complicate the negotiations.
But that would be a mistake. Speaking out for human rights in
Iran as elsewhere both reflects U.S. values and serves U.S.
interests and it can be done at the same time as we negotiate
on nuclear matters.
The Iranian people's aspirations for greater freedom are
abundantly clear. They were expressed in the votes for Rouhani
and his promises for change and they were seen in a recent
Zogby poll that showed issues of political reform trumped other
concerns. The Iranian regime stifles free expression because
the citizens are expressing a desire for political change. They
want to modernize their country, to exchange opinions freely,
and to become open to the rest of the world. An Iranian
Government that is more attuned to the views of its own
citizens will be less hostile toward the United States and more
constructive in its foreign relations.
When faced with international criticism of its human rights
abuses, the Iranian Government invariably is defiant, but it
does listen. International pressure has, for example, led to
the release of former political prisoners such as Maziar
Bahari, Roxana Saberi, and most recently in September Nasrin
Sotoudeh. One thing is certain, the Iranian Government's record
on human rights does not improve when the United States stays
silent. The United States can put human rights high on the
agenda with its adversaries at the same time as it addresses
other sensitive and complex issues. The Reagan administration
kept human rights on the agenda while negotiating nuclear arms
treaties with the Soviet Union.
President Clinton spoke out about the struggle for
individual freedom at Beijing University during a state visit
in 1998 and still held constructive talks with Chinese
Government leaders on a range of security and economic issues.
Iranians who want to change their country for the better
understand that the struggle for freedom is their struggle.
They have to stand up for their rights and demand that their
government listen to them. But Iranians notice what we in the
United States say and don't say. When we stay silent, we send
the message that we don't care about their struggle for freedom
and that message is disheartening for Iranians today and it
will hurt our credibility with them for a long time to come.
The United States needs to put human rights on its agenda with
the Government of Iran. Thank you.
[The prepared statement of Mr. Calingaert follows:]
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----------
Mr. Smith. Mr. Calingaert, thank you very much for your
testimony and for your historical perspective as well. As you
were speaking, it called to mind the point Dr. Lantos Swett
made about Natan Sharansky and his wife who worked tirelessly
for his release. Chairman Wolf and I were actually in Perm Camp
35, the infamous prison where Sharansky had been incarcerated,
just a few months after he was released. Obviously, many other
political prisoners were still there, but the lesson learned
from the way we handled human rights with the Soviet Union was
that you integrate them, you never stovepipe them. We risked
superpower confrontation with a country that was wrestling with
nuclear weapons aimed at the United States because we put human
rights and the value of human life at such a high level. When
Secretary Schultz would visit Moscow, and my first trip to the
Soviet Union was in '82 on behalf of Soviet Jewish refusniks,
he would always meet with all the dissidents and then meet with
the Soviets as well. There was never this stovepiping, this
separation, this doing something in another room. And I think
you are a reminder of that, Mr. Calingaert. And you did it was
well, Mr. Sekulow, you all did, frankly. Because I am very
concerned, especially of the response to the question I asked
of the Secretary just 2 days ago that and the different
versions that we have gotten from other people within the
administration. Was it discussed or not? And it would seem if
it was discussed at all, it was on the margins, but it should
have been center stage.
Every conversation we had with the Iranians should have
begun with Saeed Abedini and ended with Saeed Abedini. How can
we trust the Iranians' signature on a piece of paper if they so
callously mistreat not only their own human rights defenders,
but if they take pastors like Saeed Abedini, an American, and
not only incarcerate him, but as you pointed out, Mr. Sekulow,
at the very time when these negotiations are happening,
transfer him from one terrible prison to an infamous prison
where he is even at greater risk. That was a message sender
that seemed to have been missed by the U.S. Department of State
and by the administration.
And I would agree with all of you who made it very clear,
there is no partisanship here. I can tell you having been here
33 years, when we unite in human rights in Congress, no matter
who is in the White House, it is all about standing up for the
victims and others, their families, like Ms. Abedini and making
sure we speak out very loudly and very clearly. We are not in
those negotiations face-to-face with, in this case, the
Iranians, so again I think your message here today that this
has to be integrated, mainstreamed, and not stovepiped is very
clear because I, too, like others on this panel, think about
and pray about Pastor Abedini every single day. So thank you
for reminding us just how important that this is. So the
integration issue is very important.
If I could ask very quickly, Dr. Lantos Swett, you have
asked as a commission that under Section 105 of the
Comprehensive Iran Sanctions and Disinvestment Act that certain
Iranian officials be censured because of their mistreatment
based on religious persecution. If I could also just ask, when
you said, Mr. Sekulow, that Pastor Saeed has exhausted all
legal remedies, who now makes the decision? It really does come
down to a negotiation with the United States, doesn't it? They
have to know that the value is sufficiently high that the
relationship with Iran hinges, the tipping point, is how well
or how poorly going forward they treat Pastor Abedini.
And finally, your statement, Ms. Abedini, was very bold,
when you called on the President to reengage, when you called
on the Secretary of State to reengage and when you said
``please don't let this case be discussed on the margins and
please make his case a priority.'' There will be more
negotiations and I think the sooner that reengagement occurs,
the better. If you would want to elaborate on that as well.
Dr. Lantos Swett?
Ms. Lantos Swett. Well, we think that the application of
sanctions directed at specific people implicated in human
rights and religious freedom abuses is incredibly important. It
is part of a long tradition, successful tradition of the human
rights movement in general to name and shame and blame, to
identify, to pin responsibility on those responsible. And so it
really is critically important and the fact is there has been a
lot of discussion about President Rouhani's charm offensive,
but when we look at what is actually going on in Iran under his
leadership, it is actually more offensive than it is charming,
particularly again as it relates to religious freedom
violations.
And so we feel very, very strongly that that step of our
Government officially saying you are not welcome here, if you
have assets here, they will be frozen, they will be put beyond
your reach, those sorts of concrete steps. Send that message,
that you are not a political leader, engaging in respectful and
appropriate sort of leadership in your country. You are someone
who is personally implicated in vile abuses of the human rights
of your citizens. We know it. We are saying it and by doing so
the rest of the world knows it as well.
Ms. Abedini. Thank you, Mr. Chairman. In my statement when
I discussed that Saeed cannot be left in the margins, I believe
that if we do not speak out, if we do not put him at the center
stage, then we are sending the world the wrong message about
where we stand in terms of human rights issues. We are sending
it to Iran, but especially in the Middle East, with the high
increase of persecution of the Christians and religious
minorities, I believe by putting Saeed as just not a person, it
is where we stand, where we put our value in terms of human
rights issues. And I think it is very dangerous. Americans are
watching our Government to see what we will do and the world is
watching to see where we stand in terms of important human
rights issues such as religious freedom which has been an
important value since this country was founded. So I believe
that leaving it at the margins is very dangerous and is sending
a very dangerous message to the world.
Mr. Smith. Thank you.
Mr. Sekulow. Mr. Chairman, I would assert again as in my
opening statement, the ineptness of the State Department's
relationship with Ms. Abedini. She is represented not just by
us but ultimately by the U.S. Government who is sitting at that
table. And I will tell you that in conversations with them,
they ask us to keep confidential and they ask us to--what
updates they are doing around the world. For instance, I will
point out something that was news to us. I don't know if
Secretary Kerry misspoke when he mentioned the Swedish, but
they have never been mentioned to us on any phone calls and
there are countries that have. That is not one of them. He may
have misspoke, but that would be something to clear up.
We have also been told on those phone calls, now this is by
lower-level staff, mostly NEA, so the Near East Affairs
Department of State, it was absolutely being brought up on the
margins. So why would Secretary Kerry have been so broad in
that statement that it was not? And then third and finally, the
idea that bringing them up would make them hostages or pawns, I
would beg to differ and state that Mr. Abedini as well as Mr.
Hekmati and Mr. Levinson already are pawns and they already are
hostages of Iran. They are American citizens being held by a
foreign government. We are sitting at the table with them. Some
have been hostages for nearly 7 years, 2 years, or 444 days.
They are already at that point. Thank you.
Mr. Smith. I would just conclude before yielding to Mr.
Deutch that 2 days ago on December 10th, along with
Congressman, Chairman Ileana Ros-Lehtinen, I chaired a hearing
on Coptic Christians and for me it was my fourth hearing in 2
years on Coptic Christians. And many of us fought very hard to
get language into the foreign operations appropriations bill
that conditioned United States aid, it is properly conditioned
on the Egyptian-Israeli peace agreement at Camp David, but we
said that on religious freedom, there ought to be
conditionality there as well.
We got into the foreign operations bill. Mrs. Clinton
waived it as the Coptic Christians were being slaughtered,
churches decimated, monasteries, many of them hundreds of years
old. We looked askance and embraced Morsi and the Muslim
Brotherhood. It was appalling. And one of the issues that I
raised repeatedly again, I think what Ms. Abedini is doing, one
of the side issues that will help all others, is pointing out a
huge deficiency. Many Coptic Christian girls have been abducted
and forced into Islamic marriages. We had a woman who actually
did the reporting on it, she is a noted human rights
investigator, bring this information forward. And the
administration did nothing on it. And that is very disturbing.
So there is a larger backdrop issue of disregard for religious
freedom issues that has to change and it has to start with
Pastor Abedini.
Mr. Deutch?
Mr. Deutch. I thank the chairman. I have a couple of
questions for Dr. Lantos Swett and Dr. Calingaert. Let me start
by just telling Ms. Abedini that there is a real commitment by
Congress to bring your husband home and there is a real
commitment by the entire Government, including the
administration to bring your husband home. I didn't come to
this hearing this morning to apologize or come to the defense
of the administration, but I would respectfully suggest that as
we address these human rights issues, the best way for us to
address them, starting with your husband and his release is to
work in a unified fashion to do it.
I don't believe, Mr. Sekulow, that it is helpful for us in
this hearing for the hearing to turn on allegations of
incompetence and ineptitude by the administration. I just
wanted to make that point. I look forward to the classified
briefing that we are going to have with Secretary Kerry and
others. I can only speak to the briefings with respect to my
constituent and I know discussions that we have had on a
broader level about human rights, I would just respectfully
suggest that there is a real commitment to bringing home--I am
sympathetic. I understand your frustration. I don't blame you 1
minute for the immense difficulty and the sadness that you feel
every day that your husband is not with you and your family.
That commitment as we have all expressed here is very real.
Let me just ask Dr. Lantos Swett and Dr. Calingaert a
question about not just what happens here in the United States
and in this Congress and the administration, but more broadly
internationally. First, the Lautenberg amendment here saved the
lives of many religious minorities in Iran. But multi-
laterally, since--well, every year since 2002, we have worked
with the Canadians on the U.N. resolution condemning Iran's
human rights record. In 2011, we successfully led an effort to
create a Special Rapporteur on human rights in Iran. But
regardless of what happens and this is the frustration a lot of
us feel, regardless of what happens on the nuclear profile, it
appears that human rights, since the human rights situation
doesn't change, and my question is, even as we are working
tirelessly focused on individual cases, starting with Pastor
Abedini, how do we expand this? What is the next big step that
we can take either domestically or through the United Nations
to raise awareness of human rights?
Dr. Calingaert, you talked about making human rights matter
in Iran for the United States. What is the next big step we can
take for the United States to lead, for this Congress to lead,
to make human rights really matter internationally?
Dr. Lantos Swett, please.
Ms. Lantos Swett. Well, it is a critical question, one that
I think those involved in the human rights movement grapple
with on an on-going basis. But I do think a central part of the
answer to that question is that human rights, religious freedom
have to be elevated in the public discourse. At the end of the
day, we have limited ability to force other governments to do
things that we want them to do, but we do have the power still
as the world's indispensable nation to raise the profile of
their wrongdoing, to make it extraordinarily uncomfortable and
unpleasant and unwelcoming for them in the community of
civilized nations. And we have to do that.
I do think the whole situation with the efforts to reach
agreement on Iran's nuclear program is an extraordinary window
of opportunity and shame on us if we miss it. I think a lot of
people have observed that with sanctions crippling, painful
biting sanctions that ultimately brought Iran to the table.
Undoubtedly, it was the unspoken threat of military action
whether on the part of Israel or other players that have also
brought them to the table. So it is vulnerability to some
degree on Iran's part that has broken ground in that arena.
That vulnerability needs to be exploited, not merely to achieve
progress on the nuclear front, but to achieve progress on the
human rights front. That vulnerability speaks to the internal
situation in Iran specifically.
We know that the Iranian people are chafing under the
regime that they are living under. And so I very, very strongly
believe that we should not let this moment of opportunity slip
by. It is as if you had somebody in your neighborhood, as it
were, who was a notorious drug dealer, as well as a notorious
abuser of their children and their spouse. Well, the drug
dealing sort of involves spreading a poison and danger out into
the broader community. That would sort of be the nuclear side
of what worries us about Iran. The abuse within their home
would relate to the human rights issues that are of concern to
us.
I don't think any of us would be content to say well, for
the moment they stopped dealing drugs, so we are good. We are
done, you know? Mission accomplished. We would insist that we
pursue, in whatever avenues were appropriate, stopping that
abuse within the house and I think that that needs to be the
approach that we take as a government.
Mr. Deutch. Dr. Calingaert, do you have thoughts on how to
elevate the issue?
Mr. Calingaert. Yes, Mr. Deutch. I very much agree that it
is important to address these issues multi-laterally. And I
like your starting point, the U.N. Special Rapporteur, his
efforts and the resolutions that Canada and the U.S. have
pushed are very significant because first of all they put all
countries on record where they stand in regard to Iran's human
rights abuses and in that process they show that the concern
about Iran's human rights record extends far beyond the United
States and Western Europe, that there are countries around the
world that think that Iran's record is shameful.
I think there are many steps that can be taken by the U.S.
in cooperation with other democratic governments. I don't think
there is any sort of big breakthrough to be had, but I think it
is important to push this issue in all these ways on a
consistent basis. So even starting with the U.N. Special
Rapporteur, he has been trying simply to get access to the
country, to be able to have an official visit. I think it is
important to keep pushing for that.
His mandate will come up and it is important to renew that
mandate so that he can continue his important work. The
collaboration with the European Union is important from the
examples of sanctions that Dr. Lantos Swett mentioned and also
bringing attention to individual cases.
One of the political prisoners that was released in
September, Nasrin Sotoudeh, was a recipient of the European
Parliament's Sakharov Prize. I don't think that is a
coincidence. The fact that there was major attention given to
her case put pressure on the Iranian Government to release her.
And that is why I think it is important to push on individual
cases. It seems like a tough slog, obviously, even the releases
are pretty few when you consider there are still 800 dissidents
in detention. And many of them aren't known. But for even the
few that are released, it sends an important signal to those
who are still struggling for human rights on the ground, that
there is hope and especially that the outside world cares about
their efforts.
Mr. Deutch. Thank you.
Mr. Sekulow. If I could, Mr. Chairman, respond to one of
Congressman Deutch's statements. The incompetence has not been
at the level of Republicans and Democrats in Congress. It has
been at a bureaucratic level and it is clear because on
television, members of the administration of the White House,
on the National Security Council say one thing happens in the
negotiation. And the Deputy National Security Advisor said
something else happens. Secretary Kerry then says something
else. And I would add for the Congressman with all due respect,
I know he represents his constituent, Robert Levinson. Seven
years missing? I don't want to be here 6 years from now. I
would say that is incompetent, especially when we have an
opportunity.
Mr. Deutch. Mr. Sekulow, excuse me. First of all, again, we
are here today to focus on human rights in a country that has
absolutely no respect for them. And we are focusing on human
rights in a country that has immense respect for them. And to
bring discredit on the men and women who have spent the last 7
years trying to bring Bob Levinson home, to advance some
agenda, unknown agenda that I can't fathom, when we are all
trying to work together to focus on human rights and to bring
Pastor Abedini home, it is not right.
Mr. Sekulow. Congressman, things have significantly changed
and as you are walking out, in the last month we are now in
negotiations with Iran. That didn't happen 6 years ago, so
whatever efforts you are talking about before, it was
different. But in the last 6 weeks, we have a new relationship
with Iran. We can't think about Iran as, and we still hear this
from the State Department: ``We have no diplomatic ties.''
Well, depending on how you define that when you are sitting
down at the table regularly, I think the whole situation is
fundamentally changed. So to accept what was previously done as
satisfactory is no longer satisfactory, that is what I am
saying.
Mr. Deutch. Mr. Sekulow, since my time has expired and you
have claimed some of the time that I no longer had, I would
simply tell you that the commitment that exists to bring Pastor
Abedini home and Mr. Hekmati home and to bring home my
constituent is real. And have things changed? Absolutely they
have. And does every one of us here believe that this is an
issue that should be raised at every single meeting? Yes. I
have said it. We have all said it and we all need to ensure
that it happens.
Mr. Sekulow. But we all know that it hasn't happened.
Mr. Smith. Will the gentleman yield? The reason why I
wanted to chair and put together this hearing, along with my
distinguished colleague from Florida, Ms. Ros-Lehtinen, was
precisely because of our concern that it was not being raised,
it had not been integrated in a place where it could have made
all the difference in the world. And just by way of historical
fact, it was Ms. Abedini at Frank Wolf's hearing who was told
``There is nothing we can do'' by the State Department.
I have worked human rights issues for 33 years. There is
absolutely everything they can do and I would say
parenthetically that on Jacob Ostreicher, and I know you have
helped us on that as has Congressman Ros-Lehtinen. Jacob
Ostreicher is an American being held now under house arrest,
but 18 months in Palmasola Prison in Bolivia. Never charged
with anything. His rice farm was fleeced from him, taken away.
The prosecutors, the rogue prosecutors, many of them are now in
prison themselves, but he is still under house arrest. I have
tried repeatedly and asked Secretary Kerry himself to
intervene. It has not happened yet. We can't get above the
level of Assistant Secretary to raise the issue and that man,
Jacob Ostreicher, a Jewish man and there is anti-Semitism
involved here. I had three hearings to bring this to the
attention of the administration and it dropped the ball like a
ton of bricks on human rights with an American just like with
this American pastor. For the first year they did nothing. As a
matter of fact, they were admonished by the administration to
gag themselves and say nothing. Absolutely the wrong way to go
about it. He at least got out of prison and he is under house
arrest, so he is not facing the daily threats that he faced in
Palmasola.
So I see parallels, that the State Department goes the path
of least resistance. Human rights is sidetracked. When we did
the International Religious Freedom Act back in 1998, and I
don't care who is in the White House, this has been a problem.
Religious freedom is always given the back seat. And we put
into the legislation, not only the establishment of Dr. Lantos
Swett's commission to hold the administration to account with
independent verification of what is going on, great reports
that they do, particularly on recommendations for CPC
countries, but the training of Foreign Service officers who are
often clueless, and they are good people, but clueless about
the nuances that often occur in countries relative to religious
freedom the lack of it, and the persecution of believers.
So there has been a backdrop of dropping the ball. I asked
Secretary of State John Kerry if it was a mainstream issue and
he said it was not part of the negotiation. That is a serious
miss. And so I agree. We are working together on this. But we
are hoping the administration will take the cue from the wife,
Ms. Abedini, and from those who are concerned, including both
sides of the aisle to step up, to do more, and especially when
you are sitting right across from Iranian interlocutors who can
make the difference. They could say free Abedini today and he
is on a plane back to his wife and children.
Mr. Deutch. Mr. Chairman, I agree wholeheartedly with you
that on every occasion we should do as much as we can to bring
home Pastor Abedini and to bring home Mr. Hekmati and Jacob and
my constituent and that we should do everything we can to make
this issue paramount. I agree with you. I simply point out that
our goal in addition to bringing home those who have been
persecuted and held hostage, that our goal, as well, more
broadly, is to elevate human rights. In this debate, here, to
elevate human rights in this Congress, to make sure that this,
and every administration, of either party, puts human rights
squarely, not only on the table, but right up front. That is
what we are all striving for. I am simply making the point that
as we strive to elevate human rights I just hate to see our
efforts to do that amount to a round attack on the
administration. And I don't disagree. I think the
administration, well, let me just finish. I think the
administration needs to be, as I said, the administration needs
to be pushed to make sure that human rights matters every
single day. That is our job. And we do it well. And we need to
continue to do it.
And Mr. Chairman, you have been a leader on these issues,
as long as you have been in this House. And I am grateful for
it. But I respectfully suggest that it becomes more difficult
for us to make human rights the fundamental focus that it needs
to be internationally if it appears that somehow this has
turned into some sort of round of political squabble. And this
is the only point I am trying to make.
Mr. Smith. Just one very brief point and then I think Ms.
Abedini wants to speak and then we will go to the chair.
When there is a deficiency, I believe we have a duty to
speak out. Mrs. Abedini said at Frank Wolf's hearing that she
was told that there was nothing they can do. Chairman Wolf got
on the phone, talked to Secretary Kerry. I think he talked to
him personally and a statement went out immediately. We
applauded the Secretary of State, all of us, and thanked him
profusely for doing that.
Now several months later, sitting across from the Iranians
again, and the issue is not raised and the wife of Pastor
Abedini, I think wisely, says ``What is going on here?'' It
needs to be integrated. It needs to be part of that discussion
and then he will be released. Otherwise, they take their cue by
our lack of prioritization. The Iranian issue is over here on
nuclear matters, but the issue of human rights is somewhere and
we are not sure where. So that was the reason for the hearing.
Chairman Ros-Lehtinen.
Ms. Ros-Lehtinen. Thank you so much, Mr. Chairman. Ms.
Abedini, our prayers to you and to your children and may our
Lord continue to give you, your husband, and your children the
strength you need to carry on with this important, important
case. It is not a case. It is your husband. It is the
children's father. But hearings like this one are important
because that is the way we can push the administration,
whatever administration is in power, to do all that it can, to
do more, to ensure that your husband's release is immediate.
And you may feel that certain individuals in power have
abandoned your husband and we can have disagreements about
that, but the members here are united in a bipartisan manner to
make sure that we will not remain silent and we will continue
to push. We are going to continue to raise your husband's case
so that we can pressure all who can have a say in this to make
Pastor Saeed's release a higher priority.
Dr. Lantos Swett, USCIRF has made recommendations to the
U.S. Government regarding religious freedom in Iran, several of
which you outlined at a hearing on this same issue in March.
What is your assessment of the administration's response to
these recommendations? Do you believe that the U.S. has focused
so much attention on the nuclear negotiations that it has
ignored the abysmal human rights record of Iran out of fear of
angering the regime?
Also, in October 2010, the Ayatollah Khamenei publicly
called non-Muslims, religious minorities, enemies of Islam and
accused them of weakening the faith of Iran's Muslim youth.
Another leading Ayatollah referred to non-Muslims as sinful
animals. Statements like these, they incite violence against
religious minorities. Would you agree with that? Have you
observed increased violence against these groups following
these kinds of provocative statements by so-called leaders? And
despite the recommendations of USCIRF and the European Union's
decision to individually sanction the judge who gave Pastor
Saeed this outrageous 8-year sentence, the U.S. has yet to
sanction this judge and it is not a partisan attack, it is a
reality. What message does this lack of action send to
religious minorities and human rights advocates in Iran? The
Iranian regime's human rights record doesn't improve when the
U.S. remains silent. It is an issue that doesn't get much
attention because of the nuclear topic, but whatever the
administration is in power, do you believe that the
administration has been silent about Pastor Saeed's case? Do
you believe it is spoken enough about this case and the case of
others? I have asked a lot of questions and you can just pick
whichever one you would like to answer. Otherwise, we would be
here forever. So we will start with Dr. Lantos Swett.
Ms. Lantos Swett. Well, I think it would be an
overstatement to say that they have ignored the human rights
situation in Iran. And one of the things that I referenced in
my testimony was a relatively recent statement by the National
Security Advisor, Dr. Susan Rice. That is a very high-level
person within the administration and she said, ``Our sanctions
on Iran's human rights abusers will continue and so will our
support for the fundamental rights of all Iranians.'' So
ignore, I think, would be too strong of a term. But I would
also be remiss if I were not to say that we certainly at USCIRF
feel that more needs to be done and more can be done.
Ms. Ros-Lehtinen. Thank you. I am going to cut you off just
so that we can hear from the others.
Ms. Lantos Swett. Absolutely.
Ms. Ros-Lehtinen. Thank you.
Ms. Lantos Swett. Thank you.
Ms. Ros-Lehtinen. Ms. Abedini or Mr. Sekulow, whoever would
like.
Mr. Sekulow. Thank you, Madam Chairman. And I would say,
because I do want to clear this up, and Congressman Deutch is
no longer with us, but my opening statement was all about this
bipartisan support we have had in Congress which has been
unprecedented. And it is not an attack, or a Republican or
Democrat issue. It is an administration that I think Congress
has also got to deal with. Are you being told what is accurate?
I hope that briefing, that classified briefing clears what has
been so difficult for the administration to communicate to us
which is what is actually being done? And what is not. And when
is it being done and I would add to that we have been told a
number of times well Iran has been told this Iranian official,
that Iranian official, from the President on down. What answer
have we gotten? We have never been told an answer by Iran.
This idea that we may be asking sometimes on the margins,
in a phone call. That is wonderful. What is the response?
Ms. Ros-Lehtinen. He must not become an asterisk or a
footnote.
Mr. Sekulow. Exactly right.
Ms. Ros-Lehtinen. Thank you. Yes, Ms. Abedini.
Ms. Abedini. I wanted to make sure Mr. Deutch was here to
discuss that, but I don't have an agenda. And there is nothing
more than I would like to see my country united on an important
issue such as human rights. I have been fighting tirelessly for
my husband's release for over a year. It has been a lonely road
for me and the kids as well. I haven't seen my kids most of
this 444 days as well and they haven't had a mom in the last
year. But for me, as an American citizen, it was unbelievable.
I felt abandoned when we had the chance to not necessarily
discuss it at the nuclear, but as a precondition, as a good-
faith effort which we have done for the Iranian Government with
the easing of the sanctions and the monetary and prisoners and
so on.
I would have expected my Government as we have done good-
faith efforts for Iran to have--I like that example of a drug
dealer and he is abusing his wife and kids. But what if he is
abusing your child? You don't demand him to release your child
before negotiating about the drug dealing? And I expected my
Government before shaking hands with the world's number one
violator of human rights issues and support of terrorism, that
put aside, they have an American citizen----
Ms. Ros-Lehtinen. Don't get me started about shaking hands.
Ms. Abedini. Before shaking hands, before negotiating, we
have done good faith effort. I expected our Government to have
Iran show a good-faith effort, that they want to work with us.
This would have been a perfect opportunity for Iran to release
the three Americans. And again, I don't have an agenda. I am
not a political person. I am a mom. I am a wife. And as an
American citizen and millions of American citizens who are
behind me in this, we do not understand what happened. We do
not understand. And we are very much upset by it and I very
much feel abandoned and I feel my husband has been abandoned. I
do hope he survives that prison and we can bring him home
quickly.
Ms. Ros-Lehtinen. Thank you. And the last word to the good
doctor.
Mr. Calingaert. Every authoritarian government will push
back when we bring up human rights. They will fuss. They will
make excuses. They will say it complicates everything else we
want to do. That is their instinctive reaction. We should know
better. The one thing that is clear is that if we don't bring
something up, they get the message. They get the message that
we don't care. And I would also again point back to specific
cases like Maziar Bahari. In 2009, by his own account he felt
sort of lost in prison and once then Secretary Clinton raised
his case publicly, his treatment in prison immediately improved
and that led to his release. So it is critical that we raise
these cases.
Ms. Ros-Lehtinen. Thank you very much to all of you. Thank
you, Mr. Smith. I am sorry, I am going to have to depart. Thank
you.
Mr. Smith. Mr. Meadows.
Mr. Meadows. Thank you so much for being here for your
testimony. I want to ask just a few clarifying questions.
Ms. Abedini, if your husband were to be released today, he
does not have an intention to go back to Iran and work against
the government, is that correct?
Ms. Abedini. He does not.
Mr. Meadows. I knew the answer to that because you had
shared that, but I think it is important to the American people
that they realize that this was a pastor working on behalf of
an orphanage, of those who were really ministering the Iranian
people and that he was convicted and held for a trespass that
happened many years prior to that. It was not like he was there
violating a law at that particular time. To put it in very mild
terms, it is like me speeding 12 years ago and then somebody
coming in and changing the speeding law and saying that you
actually were going above the speed limit and now we are going
to convict you and throw you in jail. And so that is the
injustice of it.
The other part I guess that I would ask if I know that you
have been working with a number of officials in the State
Department, in Congress, and throughout. You have expressed
appreciation to me personally for many of them working and so I
don't want it to get lost today. You do have an appreciation
for those that are continuing to work on your behalf, whether
it is behind the scenes or out front, is that correct?
Ms. Abedini. Yes, very much so.
Mr. Meadows. Dr. Lantos Swett, I want to come back to you.
We have had a number of hearings where you have been here and
you have raised this issue and there has been a number of times
I have said, ``Who are the Bonhoeffers, who are the
Wilberforces of today?'' and I think that you continue to
champion those causes and I just want to say thank you. By
raising the issue that we have talked about and raising the
issue here today, what more can we do in a bipartisan
congressional way to raise the issue, not only of Pastor Saeed
Abedini, but of the other families, the pictures of whom you
showed us, how can we come alongside the executive branch, the
State Department, and encourage them to keep it at the
forefront so it is not a picture that happens on one hearing,
on 1 day, and doesn't get raised again. How can we best help
you in that in a bipartisan manner?
Ms. Lantos Swett. Well, I will bring up again the Defending
Freedoms Project which is a specific, concrete initiative of
Amnesty International, USCIRF, and the Lantos Human Rights
Commission which I think would be a wonderful means of engaging
more Members of Congress in sort of embracing this work
themselves directly. But I would like to say something about
the role of the Congress, in general, and I am very sorry that
my good friend Congressman Deutch isn't still here because I
think Congress has an extraordinary role, has had an
extraordinary role historically in being the conscience of our
nation when it comes to human rights. It is simply a fact. I
actually wrote my Ph.D. dissertation on this subject, so it is
something very near and dear to my heart. But if you look at
the history of human rights being legislatively enshrined as a
principal goal of U.S. foreign policy, it was the work of
Congress that brought that about in opposition to many
administrations, one after the other, because every
administration, every State Department, this isn't a criticism,
this is the reality, they are balancing many, many different
items on a big plate and sometimes there is a tendency to put
human rights in that small box in the corner of the room where
it can occasionally get a tip of the hat, but it is not
centrally enshrined. And Congress really has historically
played that role, going back to the 1970s and saying, ``No,
this isn't optional. This is essential.'' This is going to be
part of our official policy that the promotion of human rights
should be a central and principal goal of American foreign
policy. And it is so important because that above all plays to
our strengths. It is when we advocate for our deepest values
that we are playing to our strengths and playing from our
strengths.
And so I would say that Congress has an indispensable role.
Administrations will always resist and will always push back
because there will always be other things on the agenda,
whether it is our economic interest or nuclear concerns.
Mr. Meadows. Should we tie that to human rights to have an
economic element to it? I mean because so many times we
negotiate on economics and we negotiate on human rights and
they don't come together. Should we tie those together?
Ms. Lantos Swett. Well, I am a big believer in the school
of linkage and not decoupling of human rights from our other
essential foreign policy goals. They are all important, but I
think that when we link human rights to our other foreign
policy goals we strengthen our position. And I would say just
in general and I don't have a specific proposal to put in front
of you although we obviously talked about the Lautenberg
amendment and the need to reauthorize that on a multi-year
basis, but that is an example of Congress acting legislatively
to, if you will, force any administration's hand. So Congress
is the legislative body in our Government. You are the ones
that propose and adopt laws. So I would say a robust human
rights legislative agenda so that it is beyond resolutions and
statements and hearings, but as with the Sergei Magnitsky bill
which again, it was passed over opposition from the State
Department, opposition from the administration, not because
they don't share the goals, but they never want their hands
tied.
Well, Congress isn't trying to tie any particular
administration's hands, but sometimes they are trying to force
our Government's hand in a positive way, to do what we should
do, to pursue the goals that the administration shares, but
there are always countervailing arguments. So I would say a
robust legislative agenda. And most recently, the Sergei
Magnitsky Act is a really good example of Congress standing
firm, against very bipartisan. Democrats and Republicans were
side by side in pushing that forward in the face of opposition.
It is now the law and that is, I think, a good example of when
Congress is at its best.
You have a lot of power when it comes to leading the human
rights agenda. It is one area of foreign policy where Congress
usually leads and the administration follows. So in the spirit
of a tripartite government and co-equal branches of government,
I would say do not fail to lead in the human rights sector
because you can pass laws and you can help our Government do
what it should already be doing.
Mr. Meadows. I know and I will finish up with this, Mr.
Chairman, I know that Ambassador Power tweeted out about Saeed
Abedini and that seemed to have an impact. I know at least some
of my constituents who picked up on it as a very high profile,
so would you say the higher the profile that we continue,
whether it is in tweets or Facebook, or the higher we continue
to do that in terms of whether it be in the administration or
chairmen of committees, does that make a real impact, not just
with Iran, but with China, with a number of others where there
are human rights violations that occur on a daily basis?
Ms. Lantos Swett. I absolutely believe that it does and I
believe my colleague, Dr. Calingaert said earlier, but we have
heard so much personal eyewitness testimony to this effect. Not
only does it have an impact at the policy level, but it does
have an impact at the level of the lives of the people who are
being persecuted, who are imprisoned, who are suffering. They
see it almost immediately that when somebody prominent brings
up their name, when an article appears, when there is a press
report, their circumstances improve for the better. There is no
longer the sense of impunity. Impunity is the worst message
that abusers can get. We can get away with this because yeah,
nobody is really paying that much attention.
Mr. Meadows. Well, for those that are listening, let the
name of Pastor Saeed Abedini echo through these halls of
Congress today and each day until he is released and let that
message be there.
I yield back, Mr. Chairman.
Mr. Smith. Thank you very much, Mr. Meadows. Mr. Weber.
Mr. Weber. Thank you, Mr. Chairman.
Ms. Abedini, I am sorry that you have to be here. I
appreciate your tenacity and your bravery and your commitment
to your husband and I just wish that I could have had a chance
to meet you under other circumstances.
The Secretary of State came Tuesday and testified and sat
right there at that table. I didn't get a chance to ask
questions. We ran out of time, but he made the comment that we
didn't want to tie the hostages, if you will, to the nuclear
negotiations. We didn't want to prejudice them. I was outraged.
We should be the ones prejudiced? They should be afraid of what
we might do to them and not the other way around, to not tie
these human rights violations to that regime over there.
And Dr. Lantos Swett, I want to pick up something you said.
The administration doesn't want its hands tied and Congress
doesn't seek to tie the administration's hands. There's one
administration we would like to tie up, probably more than just
the hands of and that is the regime in Iran. They should be
afraid of how we will react, not the other way around. So for
this administration to take the posture that somehow we can't
bring human rights violations to the forefront in these
negotiations, I am told the Iranian people are crying out for
relief. They want out from underneath this regime.
The sanctions are working. Why would we give them up now?
We have people that they have held, our own Americans that they
have held. We should make this in the forefront. We should hold
their feet to the fire and make this the absolute hallmark of
our negotiations. If they want to show us they want out from
underneath the sanctions, if they want to be a better world
neighbor, then they better start by acting like it. So I would
encourage you, and I am sure you have, to put the pressure on
the State Department and this administration to say that we are
no longer going to be concerned with some political correctness
that somehow we are going to prejudice the Iranian regime. Are
they kidding me? We need to take them to task in a major way. I
am sorry, I had to get that off of my chest. Now I have a
question.
Mr. Sekulow, am I pronouncing that correctly?
Mr. Sekulow. That is correct, Congressman.
Mr. Weber. Your dad is Jay Sekulow. I have followed you all
for a number of years and I appreciate your all's work. Are you
getting the sense that we are being able to elevate the
discussion, as my colleague, Mr. Meadows said, and to bring up
Pastor Saeed's name in circles and to make it clear and evident
that we will not let this die. Are the Iranian people getting
that message? Are we getting any kind of help from inside? Are
you aware of that? Or maybe that is a question for all of you.
What say you?
Mr. Sekulow. Sure. I would say because I know Congressman
Deutch did not like the word ``incompetent'' used. But as
Congressman Meadows and as you just brought up as well,
Congressman Weber, it is the idea that people's good work
inside our Government, inside our Government, even inside
possibly the Iranian Government is at some point being
undermined by higher officials. So it would be someone like an
Under Secretary or a Secretary of State or a Foreign Minister
who says, eh, we are not going to--I have got the info, I have
got the briefing, but we are not going to talk about this at
these meetings. And so when Secretary Kerry was so clear and
left nothing--he said he has more to tell you about what their
efforts are, non-nuclear related. We believe if the sanctions
fall, Saeed is lost.
Mr. Weber. We lose our leverage.
Mr. Sekulow. So I want to make clear that as representing
the Abedini family that we support a new sanctions regime if
Iran were to violate any of the agreements. We support those
efforts by the House and I believe we missed one major
opportunity, the precondition. But they are already hostages.
They are already pawns and so though the administration did
miss that opportunity as a precondition to economic relief for
Iran.
Mr. Weber. They don't want their people to suffer while
they have our people held in suffering.
Mr. Sekulow. They have three Americans held hostage. Our
U.S. Government believes that Iran knows where Robert Levinson
is. Thank you, Congressman.
Mr. Weber. Thank you. Dr. Lantos Swett, are we getting help
from inside the Iranian nation? Are they rallying? Are they
paying attention or are they taking heart from what is
happening over here?
Ms. Lantos Swett. I don't know that I have the answer to
that question. I think that the reports would certainly
indicate that the Iranian people, as you said, are desperate
for relief from the sanctions regime, but something else that
has been infrequently reported on is that they are desperate
for relief from being perceived as a pariah nation. Obviously,
75 million people, a lot of those people, the majority of those
people are very good people, just like you and me. They want to
be part of a legitimate country and they are chafing not just
under the economic bite of these sanctions, but under the
terrible and well-deserved reputation that their nation has
earned through its horrible abuses.
I would make one point about the importance of aggressively
raising the release, in particular, of these three Americans
and we are all very focused on Pastor Abedini today. And that
is that it is easy. That is something that Iran can do with
utter and total ease. That is simply a matter of saying done.
It is like the old easy button. I can't remember which store it
was that used to feature that.
Mr. Weber. It is Staples, but don't remember.
Ms. Lantos Swett. If they are unwilling to do something so
easy, so easy, then I think we have to be concerned about their
willingness to do something very hard which is unwind a very
elaborate and deceptive and deeply embedded nuclear program.
Mr. Weber. You said it well. Our values, our country's
values of individual freedom and religious freedom and after
all, that is why you all are involved, we are all involved
here, should be the absolute, as I said, hallmark of any of our
negotiations. And to think that anything else can be different
is naive. And I don't mean to get you off, but I want to go to
the good doctor down here. Do we have any information from
inside Iran--I am coming back to you, Ms. Abedini, in just a
second--that we are getting support, our actions over here. Are
we making a difference?
Mr. Calingaert. Mr. Weber, unfortunately, I don't have
specific information, but I would just reiterate one of the
points Dr. Lantos Swett made which is that the Iranian people
have made clear when they have the opportunity, for instance,
in this recent Zogby poll, that they want to change their
country. When they are asked what is most important for them,
they say advancing democracy, protecting civil rights,
protecting and advancing the rights of women, political reform,
and obviously, in that kind of context it would improve the
situation for Pastor Abedini and for all the Iranians, the 800
dissidents that are still in detention and all the Iranians who
simply want to speak their mind.
Mr. Weber. Okay, thank you. And Ms. Abedini, you may or may
not choose to answer this. You may check with your counselor
here, but do you still have family in Iran?
Ms. Abedini. Yes. I have actually been on Iranian media
quite a number of times. A lot of the news media, Voice of
America, BBC, and so on, and the feedback that I get, you know,
the Iranian people were very much devastated when they were
fighting for their human rights in 2009 and they didn't get
some kind of support. The Iranian people are like the abused
family, really are hoping that America and the world would
stand up and would speak out against all these human rights
violations. The Iranian people are very much in support of
that. I can add that.
Mr. Weber. I am glad to hear that and I want to associate
myself with my colleagues' remarks. We are going to talk about
the Pastor Saeed and you and your efforts, Ms. Abedini, and
your children, and we are going to continue to bring this to
the forefront. And much to our colleague on the other side of
the aisle, when there is a failure of the administration, I
will not be shy about pointing that out. And right now, they
have a colossal failure in my opinion in trying to relieve some
of these sanctions without making this in the forefront. I have
said my piece and I will yield back.
Thank you, Mr. Chairman.
Mr. Smith. Thank you very much, Mr. Weber. Mr. DeSantis.
Mr. DeSantis. Thank you, Mr. Chairman, for having this
hearing and bringing more attention to this. We must bring back
Pastor Saeed Abedini. I think that many people have spoken
eloquently about human rights, religious freedom, and all of
that is absolutely true, but even if none of those issues were
at stake, he is an American citizen. This is an attack not just
against him and his family, but an attack against all of us,
this from a regime since its very inception has exhibited abuse
after abuse, attack after attack against the U.S. and our
citizens. They detained over 400 Embassy personnel after the
initial Islamic revolution. They were complicit in the Beirut
bombing of 1983 which killed over 200 U.S. Marines. And of
course, they were coordinating and perpetrating attacks against
our service members in Iraq, not to mention, of course, the
citizens of the United States, not just Pastor Saeed Abedini,
but Bob Levinson, Amir Hekmati. This is something that is going
to the heart of all of us. And so I want this to be an issue
that is dealt with at the highest levels. And I was very
discouraged when Secretary Kerry said that they had not raised
the issue in the context of these nuclear negotiations, which
obviously many people on both sides of the aisle had some
serious concerns about.
But let me ask you, Ms. Abedini, you had mentioned that
when you initially talked to the State Department they said
there was nothing they could do. Who was it at the State
Department that basically said there was nothing they could do?
Ms. Abedini. I don't think I can mention names, but I think
it was at the lower----
Mr. Sekulow. It is a desk officer who was the first to
state that they could not offer any assistance. Again, this is
the staff level. They are getting direction from others.
Mr. DeSantis. And Secretary Kerry, to his credit, when he
found out he immediately put out a statement, but the idea that
the bureaucracy would be that dismissive when you have a U.S.
citizen in jeopardy like that that has been essentially
kidnapped by a totalitarian regime, there are some major, major
issues going on there. So I was very discouraged to read your
testimony and to be reminded of the fact that you had actually
gone and I just think our bureaucracy has got to be very
responsive to that. That is a very important issue.
Mr. Sekulow, I guess part of this is in 2009, there was
this Green Movement that was very, very promising. So some of
the countries like Egypt, you don't know what is going to end
up happening. There is pluses and minuses to people like Hosni
Mubarak, but when you are in Iran, it can't get any worse. So
any speaking out against the regime is something that I think
the U.S. should support. The administration purposely did not
back that, did not provide any even rhetorical support and I
think the reason is that the President was looking to have
better relations with the regime and he thought that that would
jeopardize that. So I am wondering is there a concern that this
zest for a deal on paper may cause the administration to not
put forth as much effort on some of these human rights cases
that could, quite frankly, complicate the ``deal''?
Mr. Sekulow. Congressman DeSantis, I would say the
administration did just that. They missed the preconditions to
negotiations where they could have handled this with Iran
before sitting down on the nuclear issue and economic relief
and say hey, you know, you have got three of ours. I mean we
were talking about broader human rights in Iran. That is a
long-term strategy. Why we are here today is because of one
American of three who are being held. As you said, that is
egregious enough. We didn't have to have that whole agreement
on a new human rights scheme inside Iran for Iranian citizens
to get to the next step. We needed to get three Americans home.
And the administration missed that opportunity.
Then Secretary Kerry came before the Foreign Affairs
Committee of which this subcommittee is a part of and said it
will not be part of the nuclear negotiations. Some have said it
is on the margins. But he was not really clear if that is even
the case or if he is informed of that being the case. So what
we are concerned about is that this administration is so
focused on appeasing Iran who is threatening even this
Congress, if you enact sanctions, new sanctions to pull out of
these agreements that we miss the best opportunity.
Iran is hurting from the sanctions. We know that. The
regime hurts because of that. And yet, we did not demand the
return of three Americans. Not a new human rights scheme in
Iran. That is a long-term plan that Dr. Lantos Swett and others
would need to work on. But this was the return of three
Americans and the administration, I do believe has sacrificed
them and has betrayed them. We have used that word because we
know they had an opportunity that did not exist. I was trying
to make that clear to Congressman Deutch. That opportunity
didn't exist before, Congressman DeSantis, we know that. We
weren't sitting down at the table with the Foreign Minister of
Iran. Our President wasn't on the phone. But now we are and we
are still, and this has been a problem with the State
Department, our bureaucracy. We are still living in 2012
mindset, that we have no diplomatic relations when we all can
read a newspaper. You don't have to have a security clearance
to know that these meetings are occurring.
So yes, we are very concerned that if we don't continue to
speak out and Congress doesn't make it clear as it has
throughout this process, the only time we have gotten a
response back from this administration, I will close with this,
it has never been proactive. It is reactive. When President
Obama made the phone call and then they said well, he also
brought up Saeed, it was the day after the 1-day anniversary of
Saeed's imprisonment. I was at a prayer vigil outside the White
House. Naghmeh was at a prayer vigil and they were having them
around the country.
Secretary of State Clinton never spoke out even with the
media attention, congressional support. And then Secretary
Kerry basically promised during his confirmation hearings to
Senator Rubio that he would, but he didn't until after the
Lantos Commission hearing. And by the way, none of that has
been vocal. These have been two written statements from
Secretary Kerry. Even when asked about it directly, he will
never use the name. And then President Obama has also not
spoken out. And so at a time--and then we are told well,
because they become pawns and hostages. But Congressman Deutch
used the word himself. He already called them, they already are
hostages. And so we are extremely concerned that we missed one
huge opportunity and that again we would just hope that in this
confidential briefing, classified briefing to learn so that we
know from you that it is not just reactive, the public, but
that there is proactive work being done, because that is not
clear to us. Thank you, Congressman.
Mr. DeSantis. Thank you and before I yield back I just want
to say I think this needs to be a proactive priority, of
course, for the Congress, but also for the administration. And
I am skeptical whether you could ever deal with this Iranian
regime, but the notion that you are going to get a nuclear
agreement with a regime who will not even return a pastor who
is wrongly imprisoned, give me a break.
So thank you, Mr. Chairman, for holding this hearing. I
yield back.
Mr. Smith. Well put, Mr. DeSantis, and thank you, Mr. Weber
for your very strong intervention as well.
If you have any further questions, I will yield to you, but
just one final couple of thoughts. Mr. Levinson is an elderly
65-year-old man, suffers from diabetes and as I think all of
you have said, we are talking about three individuals. The
primary focus today obviously is on Pastor Abedini. There was a
great fear for his life and it seems to me what happens to the
nuclear negotiations if he is killed? I hate to be so blunt,
but what happens? The whole bright light of scrutiny will be
brought to bear on one missed opportunity after another and
frankly, if Frank Wolf had not held that hearing in March,
there would have been no statement of concern even then.
And again, Ms. Abedini, when we all heard you testify at
Mr. Wolf's hearing, it was powerful. And we all thought, give
it time. The administration, give them time.
Just parenthetically, last week I held a hearing on human
rights abuses in China. It was my 45th hearing on human rights
abuses in China. We had five daughters of political prisoners
testifying on behalf of their dads. They were eloquent beyond
words, compassionate, and they love their dads who are in
prison being tortured in Beijing. Vice President Biden was
there at the time and we repeatedly asked him to raise their
names. Hasn't happened. That is the kind of thing, human rights
cannot be put somewhere in the back if we expect to see
progress on it. If we prioritize it, they will prioritize it
and as you said, Dr. Lantos Swett, this is a very easy thing
for the Iranians to do. Pastor Abedini can be on the plane home
tonight if they make that decision. And we are admonishing the
administration. And we have been doing, all of us, quietly
after the hearing that was held by Frank Wolf and we are saying
just do it. We are with you. I couldn't have been and the
others including Congressman Wolf, couldn't have been more
outspoken in thanking Secretary Kerry for raising the case, but
now do it in a way that is most likely to lead to a positive
outcome and that is his release because we are all deeply
worried and concerned about his well being and his health.
Mr. Weber, anything you want to say? I would like to give
all four of you the opportunity if you would like to say any
final comments before we close down the hearing.
Thank you so very much and we will continue on and
thankfully it will be done in a bipartisan way. The hearing is
adjourned.
[Whereupon, at 11:43 a.m., the subcommittee was adjourned.]
A P P E N D I X
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Material Submitted for the Record
[GRAPHIC(S) NOT AVAILABLE IN TIFF FORMAT]
Photograph of Naghmeh Abedini and her children submitted for the record
by the Honorable Christopher H. Smith, a Representative in Congress
from the State of New Jersey, and chairman, Subcommittee on Africa,
Global Health, Global Human Rights, and International Organizations
[GRAPHIC(S) NOT AVAILABLE IN TIFF FORMAT]
Statement for the record from the Honorable Bill Cassidy, a
Representative in Congress from the State of Louisiana, submitted by
the Honorable Christopher H. Smith, a Representative in Congress from
the State of New Jersey, and chairman, Subcommittee on Africa, Global
Health, Global Human Rights, and International Organizations
[GRAPHIC(S) NOT AVAILABLE IN TIFF FORMAT]
Material submitted for the record by the Honorable Ileana Ros-Lehtinen,
a Representative in Congress from the State of Florida, and chairman,
Subcommittee on the Middle East and North Africa
[GRAPHIC(S) NOT AVAILABLE IN TIFF FORMAT]
[all]