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The Mahsa Amini Human rights and Security Accountability Act (MAHSA Act) is a bill that was first introduced to the 117th Congress in the wake of the Woman Life Freedom protests in Iran. Its intention is to put sanctions on the leaders of the Islamic Republic of Iran.[1] The bill was reintroduced as H.R. 589[2] to the House of Representatives and as S.2626[3] to the US Senate in the 118th congress.

Mahsa Amini

Mahsa Amini was a 22-year-old Iranian woman who while on vacation in Tehran, she was arrested and died from a collapse in court as shown by the surveillance footage, She died three days later in their custody.[4] She was arrested for improperly wearing her compulsory hijab.[4] Her name became the codename for the Woman Life Freedom revolution.

Highlight of recent human rights abuses in Iran

Human rights abuses in Iran have been widely documented. They span from violation of the rights of ethnic minorities, women, LGBTQ communities, children, and religious minorities.[5] As a result of these violations, the UN has had a special rapporteur since 1984.[6] The current special rapporteur, Javaid Rehman is not allowed entry to Iran. In March 2023, Mr. Rehman expressed that, "The scale and gravity of the violations committed by Iranian authorities, especially since the death of Ms. Amini, points to the possible commission of international crimes, notably the crimes against humanity of murder, imprisonment, enforced disappearances, torture, rape and sexual violence, and persecution."[7]

Moreover, the UN Human Rights Council has adopted resolution S35/1:[8]

“On the deteriorating situation of human rights in the Islamic Republic of Iran, especially with respect to women and children, adopted on 24 November 2022, the Human Rights Council decided to establish an independent international fact-finding mission on the Islamic Republic of Iran."[8]

From the start of the Woman Life Freedom Revolution in September 2022 until mid-January 2023, 522 protestors were killed, 70 of them children. Close to 20,000 people have been arrested and imprisoned.[9] Many of the prisoners, including the two journalists who broke the news of Mahsa Amini's death, are still in prison.[10][11][12] Activists, artists, actors were/ are serving sentences, including a rapper, Toomaj Salehi, who has been in solitary confinement for more than five months without having committed any crimes.[13][14] Several prisoners have received death sentences[15][16][17][18][19] with no access to proper council and several protesters have already been executed.[15][17][20] Many detainees have been tormented by physical, psychological, and sexual torture.[16][17][21]

More than 5000 schoolgirls were poisoned by chemical agents in organized, deliberate, distributed attacks spanning the whole country and affecting close to 100 schools between November 30, 2022, and March 16, 2023 .[22][23][24] The full list of atrocities committed against the people of Iran are beyond the scope and focus of this page, but to list a few, the downing of the Ukrainian passenger airliner (PS-572), the Bloody Aban Massacre, and Iran's consistent ranking as the country with the highest executions per capita in the world.[25]

Highlight of the Islamic Republic's attacks, aggression, assassinations, and acts of terrorism

The first major act of terrorism linked to the Islamist group that later forms the Islamic Republic of Iran was the arson of Cinema Rex killing more than 377 people. The Islamic republic has conducted several terrorist attacks directly or through proxies; a select list of which are included in Iran and state-sponsored terrorism. According to the March 2023 testimony of General Lloyd Austin, there has been 83 Iran-backed proxy group attacks against Americans since President Joe Biden took office in 2021. The following is a list of Iran-backed proxy groups according to Council on Foreign Relations:[26]

Country Militia Iranian Influence
Afghanistan Taliban Weak
Afghanistan Fatimiyoun Brigade Strong
Bahrain Al Ashtar Brigades Strong
Iraq Kata'ib Hezbollah Strong
Iraq Badr Organization Strong
Iraq Asa'ib Ahl al-Haq Strong
Lebanon Hezbollah Strong
Pakistan Zainabiyoun Strong
Palestinian Territories Hamas Weak
Palestinian Territories Palestinian Islamic Jihad Moderate
Palestinian Territories Harakat al-Sabireen Strong
Syria Quwat al-Ridha Strong
Syria Baqir Brigade Strong
Yemen Houthi movement Moderate

After the Iran hostage crisis, the Iran–United States relations deteriorated. The United States designated Iran's Quds Force ,a branch of the Islmaic Revolutionary Guards Corps (IRGC), as a terrorist organization under president Obama's administration before designating the entire IRGC as a terrorist organization under president Trump's administration. The Islamic Republic has committed conducted terrorist activities and assassinations and attempted terrorism and assassination plots in many countries including: Turkey,[27] Greece,[28] Thailand,[29] Argentina,[30] Germany,[31] France,[32] United Kingdom,[33] and the US.[34] Some of these assassination plots were targeting former senior US officials including the former Secretary of State, Mike Pompeo.[35]

MAHSA Act findings

The United States Congress has made the following determinations.[1][2]

Congress found the following:

  1. The Supreme Leader is an institution of the Islamic Republic of Iran.
  2. The Supreme Leader holds ultimate authority over Iran's judiciary and security apparatus, including the Ministry of Intelligence and Security, law enforcement forces under the Interior Ministry, the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC), and the Basij, a nationwide volunteer paramilitary group subordinate to the IRGC, all of which have engaged in human rights abuses in Iran. Additionally the IRGC, a United States designated Foreign Terrorist Organization, which reports to the Supreme Leader, continues to perpetrate terrorism around the globe, including attempts to kill and kidnap American citizens on United States soil.
  3. The Supreme Leader appoints the head of Iran's judiciary. International observers continue to criticize the lack of independence of Iran's judicial system and maintained that trials disregarded international standards of fairness.
  4. The revolutionary courts, created by Iran's former Supreme Leader Ruhollah Khomeini, within Iran's judiciary, are chiefly responsible for hearing cases of political offenses, operate in parallel to Iran's criminal justice system and routinely hold grossly unfair trials without due process, handing down predetermined verdicts and rubberstamping executions for political purpose.
  5. The Iranian security and law enforcement forces engage in serious human rights abuse at the behest of the Supreme Leader.
  6. Iran's President, Ebrahim Raisi, sits at the helm of the most sanctioned cabinet in Iranian history which includes internationally sanctioned rights violators. Raisi has supported the recent crackdown on protestors and is rights violator himself, having served on a "death commission" in 1988 that led to the execution of several thousand political prisoners in Iran. He most recently served as the head of Iran's judiciary, a position appointed by Iran's current Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei, and may likely be a potential candidate to replace Khamenei as Iran's next Supreme Leader.
  7. On September 16, 2022, 22-year-old woman, Mahsa Amini, died in the detention of the Morality Police after being beaten and detained for allegedly transgressing discriminatory dress codes for women. This tragic incident triggered widespread, pro-women's rights, pro-democracy protests across all of Iran's 31 provinces, calling for the end to Iran's theocratic regime.
  8. In the course of the protests, the Iranian security forces’ violent crackdown includes mass arrests, well documented beating of protestors, throttling of the internet and telecommunications services, and shooting protestors with live ammunition. Five weeks into the protests, Iranian security forces have reportedly killed hundreds of protestors and other civilians, including women and children, and wounded many more.
  9. Iran's Supreme Leader is the leader of the "Axis of Resistance", which is a network of Tehran's terror proxy and partner militias material supported by the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps that targets the United States as well as its allies and partners.

Sanctions listed

MAHSA Act will require the President of the United States to annually determine whether the following sanctions apply to entities and individual:[2]

  • Sanctions described in section 105(c) of the Comprehensive Iran Sanctions, Accountability, and Divestment Act of 2010 (22 U.S.C. 8514(c)).
  • Sanctions applicable with respect to a person pursuant to Executive Order 13553 (50 U.S.C. 1701 note; relating to blocking property of certain persons with respect to serious human rights abuses by the Government of Iran).
  • Sanctions applicable with respect to a person pursuant to Executive Order 13224 (50 U.S.C. 1701 note; relating to blocking property and prohibiting transactions with persons who commit, threaten to commit, or support terrorism).
  • Sanctions applicable with respect to a person pursuant to Executive Order 13818 (relating to blocking the property of persons involved in serious human rights abuse or corruption).
  • Sanctions applicable with respect to a person pursuant to Executive Order 13876 (relating to imposing sanctions with respect to Iran).
  • Penalties and visa bans applicable with respect to a person pursuant to section 7031(c) of the Department of State, Foreign Operations, and Related Programs Appropriations Act, 2021.
  • The Supreme Leader of Iran and any official in the Office of the Supreme Leader of Iran.
  • The President of Iran and any official in the Office of the President of Iran or the President's cabinet, including cabinet ministers and executive vice presidents.
  • Any entity, including foundations and economic conglomerates, overseen by the Office of the Supreme Leader of Iran which is complicit in financing or resourcing of human rights abuses or support for terrorism.
  • Any official of any entity owned or controlled by the Supreme Leader of Iran or the Office of the Supreme Leader of Iran.
  • Any person determined by the Secretary of the Treasury, in consultation with or at the recommendation of the Secretary of State—
    • to be a person appointed by the Supreme Leader of Iran, the Office of the Supreme Leader of Iran, the President of Iran, or the Office of the President of Iran to a position as a state official of Iran, or as the head of any entity located in Iran or any entity located outside of Iran that is owned or controlled by one or more entities in Iran
    • to have materially assisted, sponsored, or provided financial, material, or technological support for, or goods or services to or in support of any person whose property and interests in property are blocked pursuant to this section;
    • to be owned or controlled by, or to have acted or purported to act for or on behalf of, directly or indirectly any person whose property and interests in property are blocked pursuant to this section; or
    • to be a member of the board of directors or a senior executive officer of any person whose property and interests in property are blocked pursuant to this section.

Bill supporters

MAHSA Act was drafted by Xiyue Wang and introduced by congressman Jim Banks, and as of June 22, 2023, it has 128 cosponsors (60 Democrats, and 68 Republicans).[2] The bill has received lots of grassroots advocacy including call campaigns, Tweets, representative town hall attendance, and politician visitations by the Iranian-American citizens, communities, and allies. It has been endorsed by NUFDI,[36] the Public Affairs Alliance of Iranian Americans (PAAIA),[37] National Solidarity Group of Iran,[38] Alliance for the Rights of all Minorities (ARAM),[36] Iran Working Group of the International Religious Freedom Roundtable,[36] the International Organization to Preserve Human Rights (IOPHR),[36] the Cyrus Forum,[36]  the American Israel Public Affairs Committee (AIPAC),[36] and United Against Nuclear Iran (UANI).[36]

House Foreign Affairs Committee Mark-up session

The bill was Marked-up by the House Foreign Affairs Committee on Wednesday, April 26, 2023. It passed the committee with unanimous consent voice vote with an amendment from Representative Cory Mills.[2][39] On June 22, 2023, the bill was reported by the House Foreign Affairs Committee and placed on the Union Calendar to be voted on the House floor.[2]

House Floor vote

HR 589 was considered under suspension of rules and passed the House floor with overwhelming majority of the representatives voting for it. 410 representatives voted for the MAHSA Act (209 Republicans and 201 Democrats), Representatives Ilhan Omar, Thomas Massie, and Cori Bush voted against the bill, and 20 representatives did not vote on the bill.[2]

Senate Companion Bill (S. 2626 of 118th Congress)

MAHSA Act's Senate companion bill was introduced to the Senate by Senators Marco Rubio and Alex Padilla on 7/27/2023.[3][40] According to the Iran International, Senator Ben Cardin was holding up MAHSA Act from being considered for a markup session by the United States Senate Committee on Foreign Relations.[41][42] However, with continued advocacy of mostly the Iranian-American community, it was scheduled for a marked-up on April 16, 2024.[43]

On April 16, 2024, the Senate bill was marked up in Senate Committee on Foreign Relations with some amendments by Senators Schatz, Cardin, and Murphy which weakened the bill by adding a sunset clause of 4 years to the bill, broad sanction exceptions, and additional sanctions waiver along with some additional items to cover cyberattacks and sanctioning those responsible for empowering the Palestinian Islamic Jihad. Many activists and Iranian American groups voiced their strong dissatisfaction with the fundamental weakening of the bill, especially with the sanction exceptions that would highly limit the execution of the bill by the executive branch.[44] Senator Cardin also received strong criticism due to his failure to meet his human rights commitments. The point of contention was due to Senator Cardin adding language that prevented holding the regime in Iran accountable for past human rights violations, and they would only be responsible for future violations. This change to weaken the bill made many activists extremely upset and with many voicing their concerns on social media. Due to these fundamental changes, activists and human rights groups urged Congress to use the House version of the bill to advance in the legislative process.[45]

References

  1. ^ a b "H.R.9203 – MAHSA Act – 117th Congress".
  2. ^ a b c d e f g "H.R.589 – MAHSA Act – 118th Congress".
  3. ^ a b "MAHSA Act Senate Bill S. 2626 of 118th Congress".
  4. ^ a b McGrath, Maggie. "Mahsa Amini: The Spark That Ignited A Women-Led Revolution". Forbes. Retrieved April 3, 2023.
  5. ^ "Human rights in Iran", Wikipedia, March 19, 2023, retrieved April 3, 2023
  6. ^ "United Nations Special Rapporteur on Human Rights in Iran", Wikipedia, February 19, 2023, retrieved April 3, 2023
  7. ^ Wintour, Patrick (March 20, 2023). "Iran rights violations amount to crime against humanity, says UN expert". The Guardian. ISSN 0261-3077. Retrieved April 3, 2023.
  8. ^ a b "Independent International Fact-Finding Mission on the Islamic Republic of Iran". OHCHR. Retrieved April 3, 2023.
  9. ^ "Daily Statistics on Iran Protests 15 Jan 2023". Twitter. Retrieved April 3, 2023.
  10. ^ Parent, Deepa (October 29, 2022). "Iran accuses journalists who reported Mahsa Amini's death of spying for CIA". The Guardian. ISSN 0261-3077. Retrieved April 3, 2023.
  11. ^ "Opinion | In Iran, they reported on Mahsa's death. Now they are in jail". Washington Post. ISSN 0190-8286. Retrieved April 3, 2023.
  12. ^ "Iran protests: Female journalists targeted in spate of arrests". BBC News. February 16, 2023. Retrieved April 3, 2023.
  13. ^ "Iran: Jailed rapper Toomaj Salehi could face death penalty – DW – 03/28/2023". dw.com. Retrieved April 3, 2023.
  14. ^ "Rapper who became the voice of the Iranian revolt is in danger of execution". NBC News. Retrieved April 3, 2023.
  15. ^ a b "Iran protests: 15 minutes to defend yourself against the death penalty". BBC News. January 18, 2023. Retrieved April 3, 2023.
  16. ^ a b "Iran: Quash death sentences of young protesters subjected to torture". Amnesty International. January 27, 2023. Retrieved April 3, 2023.
  17. ^ a b c Fassihi, Farnaz; Engelbrecht, Cora (March 31, 2023). "The People Executed or Sentenced to Death in Iran's Protest Crackdown". The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved April 3, 2023.
  18. ^ "Iran: Death Sentences Against Protesters". Human Rights Watch. December 13, 2022. Retrieved April 3, 2023.
  19. ^ Hafezi, Parisa (January 9, 2023). "Iran sentences three more protesters to death amid international criticism". Reuters. Retrieved April 3, 2023.
  20. ^ "Rights Groups: Iran Executed Kurdish 'Political Prisoner'". VOA. Retrieved April 3, 2023.
  21. ^ "CNN investigates female and male protesters' accounts of sexual assault in Iranian detention centers". www.cnn.com. Retrieved April 3, 2023.
  22. ^ "Iran: Deliberate poisoning of schoolgirls further evidence of continuous violence against women and girls". OHCHR. Retrieved April 3, 2023.
  23. ^ "Iranian schoolgirls mass poisoning reports", Wikipedia, March 22, 2023, retrieved April 3, 2023
  24. ^ "Mass Poisoning of Schoolgirls in Iran". The Iran Primer. March 8, 2023. Retrieved May 7, 2023.
  25. ^ "On the way out—with grisly exceptions". The Economist. ISSN 0013-0613. Retrieved April 3, 2023.
  26. ^ "Iran's Regional Armed Network". Council on Foreign Relations. Retrieved April 3, 2023.
  27. ^ "Rise in Iranian assassination, kidnapping plots alarms Western officials". Washington Post. December 1, 2022. Retrieved April 3, 2023.
  28. ^ Norman, Laurence. "Greece Foils Attack on Jewish and Israeli Targets, Authorities Say". WSJ. Retrieved April 3, 2023.
  29. ^ "Thailand: Iranians planned terror attack on Israeli diplomats". NBC News. Retrieved April 3, 2023.
  30. ^ "A Bomb in Argentina: 'The Jewish community is standing and fighting.' | AJC". www.ajc.org. July 17, 2019. Retrieved April 3, 2023.
  31. ^ "Fereydoun Farrokhzad", Wikipedia, March 16, 2023, retrieved April 3, 2023
  32. ^ "'A Darker Horizon': The Assassination of Shapour Bakhtiar". FRONTLINE – Tehran Bureau. Retrieved April 3, 2023.
  33. ^ "Iran plotted to kidnap or kill at least 10 people in the U.K., British domestic spy chief says – NBC News". nbcnews.com. Retrieved April 3, 2023.
  34. ^ Staff (January 27, 2023). "Three charged with Iran-backed plot to assassinate journalist in US". The Guardian. ISSN 0261-3077. Retrieved April 3, 2023.
  35. ^ Dress, Brad (August 11, 2022). "Pompeo also targeted in an Iranian assassination plot: reports". The Hill. Retrieved April 3, 2023.
  36. ^ a b c d e f g NUFDI (March 30, 2023). "The MAHSA Act". NUFDI. Retrieved April 3, 2023.
  37. ^ PAAIA (April 7, 2023). "PAAIA Supports the MAHSA Act & Thanks its Cosponsors!". PAAIA.
  38. ^ "Woman Life Liberty". Woman Life Liberty. Retrieved April 25, 2023.
  39. ^ Rod, Marc (April 27, 2023). "House Foreign Affairs passes MAHSA Act, with intentions to continue negotiations". Jewish Insider. Retrieved May 7, 2023.
  40. ^ "Rubio, Padilla Introduce Bill to Impose Economic Sanctions on Iranian Regime | Senator Rubio". Retrieved July 30, 2023.
  41. ^ "Senator Cardin Holding Up Bill Sanctioning Iran's Leaders". Iran International. January 4, 2024. Retrieved January 4, 2024.
  42. ^ Rod, Marc (January 16, 2024). "MAHSA Act, a bipartisan Iran sanctions bill, likely dead in the Senate". Jewish Insider. Retrieved January 16, 2024.
  43. ^ "BUSINESS MEETING | United States Senate Committee on Foreign Relations". www.foreign.senate.gov. Retrieved March 28, 2024.
  44. ^ https://x.com/nufdiran/status/1780295626023903742
  45. ^ https://x.com/nickbot21/status/1780343123115159559
source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/MAHSA_Act