Recommendations: Congress Can Play a Vital Role in Supporting the Protesters in Iran
December 21, 2022 – Since peaceful protests erupted across Iran in September 2022, the Islamic Republic has tried to crush them by killing hundreds of men and women, including dozens of children, arresting thousands, and executing protesters. Congress can play a vital role in supporting the basic rights and freedoms of the Iranian people, according to a new set of recommendations released today by the Center for Human Rights in Iran (CHRI).
Read the Full Recommendations Online
“Members of Congress should urgently take these vital steps to support the brave women and men in Iran who are being gunned down in the streets by the hundreds as they demand their rights,” said CHRI executive director Hadi Ghaemi.
CHRI’s recommendations for members of Congress to support freedom of expression and the right to protest, and to hold Islamic Republic officials accountable for their lethal violence against the protesters in Iran, include:
- Encourage other governments to downgrade diplomatic relations with the Islamic Republic of Iran and expand human rights sanctions.
- Forge bipartisan recommendations for the U.S. State Department to increase support for the protesters in Iran, including urging other governments to recall ambassadors from Iran.
- Encourage companies to make tech products the people of Iran need to communicate with one another and the world available and provide funding so they can be provided free of charge.
- Expand assistance to Iranians fleeing the Islamic Republic’s persecution, including expediting asylum cases.
- Expand funding for Farsi-language broadcasts so that the people of Iran have increased access to independent news and programming.
- Encourage the U.S. Treasury to facilitate the transfer of funds by Iranian Americans to their families in Iran.
- Encourage the U.S. Treasury to further identify and sanction individuals, companies and organizations associated with human rights violations.
- Call for the expulsion of the Islamic Republic from international bodies whose principles it violates.
- Publicly condemn the Islamic Republic’s violent suppression of peaceful protest.
“Large numbers of young people are dying in Iran at the hands of a violent state security apparatus; it is incumbent upon governments around the world to do all they can to support them,” said Ghaemi.
