[House Hearing, 113 Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
CONDEMNING THE GOVERNMENT OF IRAN FOR ITS STATE-SPONSORED PERSECUTION
OF ITS BAHA'I MINORITY AND ITS CONTINUED VIOLATION OF THE INTERNATIONAL
COVENANTS ON HUMAN RIGHTS; AND CALLING ON THE GOVERNMENT OF IRAN TO
FULFILL THEIR PROMISES OF ASSISTANCE IN THIS CASE OF ROBERT LEVINSON,
ONE OF THE LONGEST HELD UNITED STATES CIVILIANS IN OUR NATION'S HISTORY
=======================================================================
MARKUP
BEFORE THE
SUBCOMMITTEE ON
THE MIDDLE EAST AND NORTH AFRICA
OF THE
COMMITTEE ON FOREIGN AFFAIRS
HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
ONE HUNDRED THIRTEENTH CONGRESS
SECOND SESSION
ON
H. Res. 109 and H. Res. 435
__________
JUNE 19, 2014
__________
Serial No. 113-174
__________
Printed for the use of the Committee on Foreign Affairs
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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
DOUG COLLINS, Georgia GRACE MENG, New York
MARK MEADOWS, North Carolina LOIS FRANKEL, Florida
TED S. YOHO, Florida TULSI GABBARD, Hawaii
SEAN DUFFY, Wisconsin JOAQUIN CASTRO, Texas
Amy Porter, Chief of Staff Thomas Sheehy, Staff Director
Jason Steinbaum, Democratic Staff Director
------
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
DOUG COLLINS, Georgia BRADLEY S. SCHNEIDER, Illinois
MARK MEADOWS, North Carolina JOSEPH P. KENNEDY III,
TED S. YOHO, Florida Massachusetts
SEAN DUFFY, Wisconsin GRACE MENG, New York
LOIS FRANKEL, Florida
C O N T E N T S
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Page
MARKUP OF
H. Res. 109, Condemning the Government of Iran for its state-
sponsored persecution of its Baha'i minority and its continued
violation of the International Covenants on Human Rights....... 2
H. Res. 435, Calling on the government of Iran to fulfill their
promises of assistance in this case of Robert Levinson, one of
the longest held United States civilians in our Nation's
history........................................................ 11
Amendment in the nature of a substitute to H. Res. 435 offered
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............. 15
APPENDIX
Markup notice.................................................... 26
Markup minutes................................................... 27
Markup summary................................................... 28
The Honorable Gerald E. Connolly, a Representative in Congress
from the Commonwealth of Virginia: Prepared statement.......... 29
CONDEMNING THE GOVERNMENT OF IRAN FOR ITS STATE-SPONSORED PERSECUTION
OF ITS BAHA'I MINORITY AND ITS CONTINUED VIOLATION OF THE INTERNATIONAL
COVENANTS ON HUMAN RIGHTS; AND CALLING ON THE GOVERNMENT OF IRAN TO
FULFILL THEIR PROMISES OF ASSISTANCE IN THIS CASE OF ROBERT LEVINSON,
ONE OF THE LONGEST HELD UNITED STATES CIVILIANS IN OUR NATION'S HISTORY
----------
THURSDAY, JUNE 19, 2014
House of Representatives,
Subcommittee on the Middle East and North Africa,
Committee on Foreign Affairs,
Washington, DC.
The committee met, pursuant to notice, at 9:45 a.m., in
room 2172 Rayburn House Office Building, Hon. Ileana Ros-
Lehtinen (chairman of the subcommittee) presiding.
Ms. Ros-Lehtinen. The subcommittee will come to order. We
meet today pursuant to notice the markup of two bipartisan
measures related to Iran. As your offices were previously
notified, it is the intent of the Chair to consider the
following items en bloc which members have before them: House
Resolution 109, Condemning the Government of Iran for its
state-sponsored persecution of the Baha'i minority; House
Resolution 435, Calling on the Government of Iran to fulfill
promises of assistance in the case of Robert Levinson; and Ros-
Lehtinen Amendment 49 in the nature of a substitute to House
Resolution 435, which was provided to your office yesterday.
Without objection, these items are considered as read and will
be considered en bloc.
[The information referred to follows:]H. Res.
109 deg.
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Ms. Ros-Lehtinen. After the ranking member and I speak on
these measures, I would be glad to recognize any other member
seeking recognition. Without objection, all members may have 5
days to submit statements for the record on today's business.
I would now like to recognize myself. I am pleased to call
up these two bipartisan measures today, both of which I
strongly support. The Baha'i community is the largest single
non-Muslim minority community in Iran, yet since the 1979
revolution, they have faced unrelenting and unforgiving
persecution by the Islamic regime. Members of the Baha'i are
constantly being detained, harassed, beaten, and thrown in
jail, simply because they do not adhere to the brand of Shia
Islam that the regime espouses.
As the latest of the report of the U.S. Commission on
International Religious Freedom States, as of February of this
year there were at least 135 imprisoned members of the Baha'i
community in Iran, double the number of those detained in 2011.
In April, I adopted Rozita Vaseghi, a prisoner of conscience in
Iran, whose case had been highlighted by Amnesty International
and the U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom.
Rozita is a member of the Baha'i community who is serving a 10-
year sentence because of her faith. Rozita is suffering at the
hands of this regime which targets people for what they believe
and is one of hundreds of other cases that prove that under
Rouhani, Iranians seeking to exercise their basic freedoms and
assert their human dignity are no better off.
I believe this resolution is important in highlighting the
abysmal state of human rights in Iran, even as our
administration engages its officials on nuclear negotiations. I
urge my colleagues to support this measure. I also urge them to
be a voice for other prisoners of conscience in Iran, many of
whom have been languishing in Iranian prisoners for far too
long and have suffered the brutality of this regime.
The administration can no longer ignore the plight of those
suffering in Iran and it must act now.
It must also take immediate action to bring U.S. citizen
Robert Levinson home. On March 9, 2007, Robert Levinson
disappeared on the Iranian island of Kish in the Persian Gulf.
On November 26, 2013, Robert marked his 2,455th day in
captivity, making him one of the longest-held Americans in our
history.
Mr. Levinson and his family--I am pleased to see his son
here with us today, welcome, sir--and his family calls South
Florida their home and they are constituents of my good friend
and our subcommittee's ranking member, Ted Deutch. Ted has been
working tirelessly to bring Mr. Levinson home.
Thank you, Dan Levinson, the son, the oldest son, for being
with us today. And thank you so much for the support that you
give to all of us and we to you. Our thoughts and prayers and
with you and your family.
Ted has been a relentless advocate for the release of
Robert for many years and working hard to get answers on what
has happened and to press the administration to do more to help
facilitate his release, return him home to his family, Robert's
wife, Christine, and their seven children. The Levinson family
has been living this hellish nightmare over Robert's fate for
over 7 years now. We demand his immediate unconditional return.
There should be no kowtowing, no equivocation.
We have heard the stories of abuse and torment that Pastor
Saeed Abedini faces and we have seen the sham trial of Amir
Hekmati, a U.S. Marine. We have tools in our disposal that can
force their release, yet the administration is too worried
about upsetting the Iranian regime as it continues to pursue
this bad and weak nuclear agreement. This nuclear agreement
does not exist in a vacuum. We must ratchet up the pressure and
bring Robert home to his family. We must bring Pastor Saeed
home to his family and we must bring Amir Hekmati home to his
family.
I am now very pleased to yield to the ranking member, Mr.
Deutch, for his opening remarks.
Mr. Deutch. Madam Chairman, thank you for holding today's
markup on these two very important resolutions. I am proud to
offer my strong support to both. I want to thank you for co-
introducing with me and for your continued tireless support of
House Resolution 435, urging the Government of Iran to fulfill
its promise to assist in the disappearance of my constituent,
Robert Levinson.
Robert Levinson disappeared from Kish Island, Iran, on
March 9, 2007. He is now the longest held American hostage. The
Levinson family has endured 2,659 days without their father.
Bob and his wife Christina have been married for 40 years. They
have four daughters and three sons. Bob's eldest son, Dan, is
here with us today.
Dan, your family has shown unimaginable strength in the
face of this tremendous hardship and please know this Congress
stands with you.
Since his disappearance, Bob has missed 60 family
birthdays, and the birth of three new grandchildren. He has
missed the big things, weddings, anniversaries, graduations,
promotions, but he has also missed hundreds of quiet Sunday
nights at home with his family. Bob Levinson is now 66 years
old. He spent 30 years as a dedicated FBI agent, retiring in
1998. He chose to devote his career, his time away from his
family, to the country that he loved so much. In 2010, the
Levinson family received its first proof of life video in which
Bob appeared alarmingly frail. The family again received a set
of photos showing Bob in an orange jumpsuit in 2011. The
Government of Iran has repeatedly indicated their willingness
to assist in Bob's case. Now we are sitting across the table
from Iran. We have the opportunity to raise Bob's case, to
press Bob's case in every single meeting.
I know our negotiating team is committed to doing so and I
would urge them to tell the Iranians that if they want to send
a signal of good faith as to why we should hold out any hope of
trust for them, this is how they can do it, help us bring Bob
Levinson and the two other detained Americans home.
The Levinson family keeps a Facebook page and every single
day they share memories of their father. This past Sunday,
Father's Day, the family shared this post along with a picture
of Bob in a t-shirt from his children that read ``One in a
Million Dad.'' ``This is a difficult post to write,'' it said.
``It has been 2,655 days and now the eighth Father's Day that
we have been apart from the greatest man and father that we
have ever known. It is tough for us today, but tougher on our
dad. There is nothing in the world more important about
Levinson than his family. We hope that today and every day that
you hug your father with all of your might. Hug until he makes
you let go. Hold on to that memory as all of us Levinson
children would have given anything, anything to be able to
embrace our dad again. We want to wish all the fathers out
there, Happy Fathers Day. We pray with all of our being that
our one in a million dad will be brought home to us just as
soon as humanly possible.''
Madam Chairman, passing this resolution today sends a
message to the Iranians that this Congress has not and we will
not forget about Bob. I ask my colleagues to support this
bipartisan resolution to help bring Bob Levinson back to his
family. Thank you and I yield back.
Ms. Ros-Lehtinen. Thank you so much, Mr. Deutch. That was a
very poignant, beautiful statement. Thank you for sharing that
with us.
And to show what a tireless advocate he is on behalf of
human rights everywhere and how important these resolutions
are, I am so pleased to yield whatever time you need to consume
to the chairman of our committee, Mr. Royce of California.
Mr. Royce. Madam Chair, thank you very much. I want to
thank you and I want to thank Ted Deutch. I join Mr. Deutch in
that sentiment. Bob Levinson, when you think about it, Mr.
Deutch, our longest held American hostage anywhere on the
planet. And I think all of us, the reason we are here today is
because of our concern not only about his plight, but what this
tells us about the regime.
And for those of us who have known some of the Baha'i,
those of the Baha'i faith, that peaceful faith, I know that you
will mark up a resolution on that subject in a minute, Madam
Chair. And to think about the fact that those who teach the
Baha'i faith are taken out and summarily executed for that act
today and that hundreds have been executed in Iran for the act
of teaching the Baha'i faith, I think it is very, very
important that we move these resolutions. And it is important
that we reflect on the fact that the way you treat your own
people might be a harbinger, might tell us something about the
way you are likely to treat your neighbors and that is why I
did want to say that the Iranian regime continues to involve
itself in these serious human rights abuses, even as we sit
here today on a very large scale. We will hear from one
political prisoner here today in Iran.
At least 750 people have been executed without due process
in the past year. This is under President Rouhani. It is no
wonder that Iran continues to stiff arm the U.N.'s Special
Rapporteur on human rights in Iran. And I know that some
thought that the election of President Rouhani might be a
turning point. I would hope it would be, but I think we should
remember that this is a man who called on the regimes of the
Basij Militia to crush mercilessly and monumentally--those are
his words--crush mercilessly and monumentally the student
protesters. More than a dozen students were killed in the
protests in 1999. More than 1,000 were arrested and several
hundred were tortured. We should be speaking out against these
abuses. For one, it is our moral responsibility to show
Iranians that we are concerned about what happens to them, as
human beings.
Unfortunately, I fear that the Obama administration's
engagement with Iran has signaled to them that we are focused
on its nuclear program alone, no matter how many innocent men
or women are being beaten or tortured or raped or killed for
expressing their hope for change in Iran.
Of course, Iran's nuclear program is a paramount national
security concern, but a focus on the Iranian regime's militant
character is just as critical to U.S. security interests. How
the regime treats its people is a pretty good indicator of how
it is going to treat its neighbors. Let us imagine that Iran
and the P5+1 come to an agreement next month. Are we
comfortable leaving this regime with much of the critical
nuclear infrastructure in place? How could this regime which
holds the noose in one hand be trusted to hold the keys to a
nuclear bomb in the other? There is a reason that we are more
comfortable when such dangerous technologies are in the hands
of democratic nations, not hostile ones.
And to be fair, the Bush administration, too, pushed human
rights aside in its nuclear negotiations with North Korea.
Members here on this committee who served with me for awhile
will remember my criticism of the Bush administration at that
time for that failure. But this failure to speak out against a
regime's abuses, whether it is in Tehran or Pyongyang, fails to
grasp the concept that promoting human rights, promoting
democracy in Iran and improving our national security, in fact,
go hand in hand. And that is why I again want to thank you,
Madam Chair, for holding this hearing today and thank Mr.
Deutch as well.
Ms. Ros-Lehtinen. Thank you very much for coming to the
markup, Mr. Chairman. We appreciate it.
We have two more members who will be recognized for the
markup before we segue to the hearing and I apologize that it
is running a little bit late, but we are thrilled that Mr.
Connolly and Mr. Chabot will make statements on in the markup.
Mr. Connolly is recognized.
Mr. Connolly. Thank you, Madam Chairman and thank you for
holding this markup and the subsequent hearing. I also want to
commend you and Ted Deutch for your leadership on the case of
Robert Levinson, as the chairman said just now, the longest
held American in American history. And I thought Mr. Deutch's
eloquent statement really kind of encapsulates the set of
issues here. We cannot forget Mr. Levinson and his family and I
hope that the words particularly of Mr. Deutch bring some
comfort to his family and can lead to some action by the
Iranian Government.
I believe that the Baha'i resolution we have today has more
at stake than just--not that that is limited--the Baha'i issue.
It is about tolerance. It is about the American value of
tolerance and acceptance and diversity and the right of people
to practice their faith, their religion irrespective of the
dominant culture. We don't always practice what we preach.
There was an ugly incident the other day documented by
columnist Dana Milbank at one of our think tanks that showed an
element of intolerance we should be ashamed of. Because if we
are going to lecture others and we should, we need to make sure
we are following our own prescription.
The distinguished chairman, whom I respect enormously,
chided the Obama administration for perhaps a mixed message
that maybe we were sending a signal that all we cared about in
the relationship with Iran was the nuclear issue. And if his
words were meant as a caution or a reminder, I join him. But if
they were meant as a rebuke and a judgment that that, in fact,
is what has happened, I must demur. The United States can
handle more than one message at a time with every relationship
it has in the world. The Iranians know full well we have a
broad spectrum of issues with them, the nuclear one being
obviously important, existentially for Israel and for that part
of the world and ultimately for us. But by no means should the
Iranians take any comfort in the fact that our interest is
limited to that issue. That is not true. Today's resolution
gives evidence of that fact. But we can't be afraid to sit down
at the table after 35 years of isolation and be engaged. In
fact, if we mean what we say today about this Baha'i
resolution, non-engagement is precisely the best way to make
sure this is feckless and has no effect.
Engagement means we have some standing. We have some
leverage on behalf of the Baha'is and others who are persecuted
in a nontolerant, internal society in Iran. So I am delighted
to join in support of both resolutions and I would hope that
our hearing will help further illuminate the values and the
potential pitfalls of that engagement. Thank you, Madam
Chairman.
Ms. Ros-Lehtinen. Thank you so much, Mr. Connolly. And I am
now pleased to recognize Mr. Chabot, subcommittee chairman of
Asia and the Pacific.
Mr. Chabot. Thank you, Madam Chair, and I want to associate
myself with your remarks and also those of Chairman Royce and
the ranking member, Mr. Deutch. The Iranian regime continues to
persecute those of the Baha'i faith, charging, imprisoning,
abusing, and murdering individuals on trumped up charges
including alleged propaganda against the state.
Human Rights Watch says, ``These transparently political
charges make it painfully clear that authorities have targeted
the Baha'is not for any crime, but because of their religious
beliefs.'' The Baha'i faith is truly a religion of peace. There
is a Baha'i church on Montana Avenue in Cincinnati about \1/2\
mile from my home. And hopefully, adoption of this resolution
will increase awareness of on-going major human rights abuses
in Iran. And I thank you for pushing this, Madam Chair. I urge
support for the resolution and I yield back.
Ms. Ros-Lehtinen. Thank you very much. Hearing no further
requests for recognition the question occurs on adopting the
items under consideration en bloc. All those in favor say aye.
[Chorus of ayes.]
All those opposed, no. In the opinion of the Chair, the
ayes have it. The en bloc amendment items are approved. Without
objection, the items in the en bloc will be reported favorably
to the full committee and House Resolution 435 will be reported
in the form of a single amendment in the nature of a
substitute. The staff is directed to make any technical and
conforming changes. I want to thank all of our members and
staff for the assistance and cooperation that went into today's
markup. The subcommittee stands adjourned.
[Whereupon, at 10:12 a.m., the subcommittee was adjourned.]
A P P E N D I X
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