U.S. Rep. Michael McCaul (R-TX), chairman of the House Homeland Security Committee, wants to formally punish Iranian government authorities who are responsible for crimes against their own people and American citizens, among other depravity.
Rep. McCaul on Jan. 9 introduced the bipartisan Iran Human Rights and Hostage-Taking Accountability Act, H.R. 4744, which “would impose additional sanctions concerning serious human rights abuses committed by the Government of Iran,” among other purposes, according to the congressional record.
“Let me be clear, the United States is a friend of the Iranian people,” McCaul said in a Jan. 9 statement. “As such, this legislation heeds the public outcry in Iran.”
Currently, demonstrators across the country, the congressman said, are protesting what they consider to be a corrupt, oppressive government and the Iranian people are demanding change.
McCaul said their protests reveal that, “the peoples’ discontent has reached a boiling point.”
Specifically, H.R. 4744 would give the Trump administration tools of accountability “to hold Iranian government officials responsible for human rights violations, corruptions, and censorship,” and for detaining or holding hostage U.S. citizens and permanent residents, according to McCaul’s statement. Such tools would include property-blocking sanctions and visa prohibitions on Iranian officials, according to McCaul’s office.
In a section-by-section summary of the bill provided by McCaul’s office, H.R. 4744 stipulates that the United States would ramp up its use of all available authorities to impose such sanctions on those Iranian officials who commit or are responsible for human rights abuses.
Additionally, the document also states “that it is U.S. policy to stand with the people of Iran who seek the opportunity to freely elect a government of their choosing.”
In fact, the ongoing protests by the Iranian people, McCaul said, “should serve as a stark reminder to the Ayatollahs that Iranian citizens are tired of government officials using the country’s financial resources to fund terrorist organizations abroad while inflation skyrockets at home.”
“They deserve a free, prosperous, and democratic society in which they again have a voice in the direction of their country,” he added.
U.S. Rep. Ted Deutch (D-FL), ranking member of the House Foreign Affairs Subcommittee on the Middle East and North Africa, joined McCaul in introducing the bipartisan bill.
“The world is watching as Iranians in cities across the country demand basic human rights from their government,” Rep. Deutch said. “But this radical Iranian regime has long made it its mission to repress its people as well as destabilize the region by financing terrorism and developing dangerous ballistic missiles.”
Rep. Deutch pointed out that the situation in Iran has hit home in his state of Florida, where he and others continue to fight Iran for release of Coral Springs, Fla., constituent Bob Levinson, who Deutch said on Facebook “is the longest held hostage in American history” since disappearing in Iran in 2007.
“The United States follows words with actions, and this bill will rightfully punish Iranian officials involved in the kidnapping of American citizens and egregious human rights abuses against its own people,” Deutch said.
H.R. 4744 awaits consideration by the House Committees on Foreign Affairs, Judiciary, Financial Services, and Ways and Means.