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“STATEMENT ON IRAN” mentioning the U.S. Dept of State was published in the Extensions of Remarks section on pages E635 on April 26, 2002.
The publication is reproduced in full below:
STATEMENT ON IRAN
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HON. MARK UDALL
of colorado
in the house of representatives
Thursday, April 25, 2002
Mr. UDALL of Colorado. Mr. Speaker, in his State of the Union address, President George W. Bush rightly emphasized that ``Iran aggressively pursues weapons [of mass destruction] and exports terror, while an unelected few repress the Iranian people's hope for freedom.'' This grim reality was recently underscored in the latest report by the U.N. Special Representative on the Situation of Human Rights in Iran who denounced an increase in public stonings, floggings, and executions in Iran.
Attorney General John Ashcroft pointed last year to the Iranian regime's role in the bombing of the Khobar Towers in Saudi Arabia. The Minister of the Revolutionary Guards at the time claimed responsibility for the 1983 bombing against Americans in Lebanon and said: ``both the TNT and ideology which in one blast sent to hell 400 officers, NCOs and soldiers at the Marine Headquarters have been provided by Iran.'' The Iranian regime continues to support the terrorist and fundamentalist groups in the region. The intervention of the Revolutionary Guards in Afghanistan is of great concern as well.
The Iranian regime's track record inside the country is even worse, and includes the execution of some 120,000 and imprisonment of hundreds of thousands for political charges. In a resolution last December, the UN General Assembly condemned the ``growing number of executions,'' in particular ``public and especially cruel executions, such as stoning,'' and ``the use of torture and other forms of cruel, inhuman and degrading punishment,'' as well as discrimination against persons belonging to minorities'' and the ``systematic discrimination against women.'' In the same month, the European Parliament in a unanimous resolution announced that the human rights situation in Iran has actually deteriorated in many aspects.
Five years after President Khatami's election, the Iranian regime continues to be the leading state sponsor of terrorism, pursues an ambitious weapons of mass destruction program, and has stepped up repression against its own population. This is further substantiated in the State Department human rights report released on March 4th of this year, which states that the regime's record ``regarding freedom of expression, which has worsened during the past few years, continued to deteriorate;'' that ``the Government denies the universality of human rights;'' and that ``discrimination against women is reinforced by law'' with the regime enforcing ``gender segregation in most public spaces.'' Summarizing the horrific situation in Iran, the State Department report highlights that: ``Systematic abuses include summary executions, disappearances, widespread use of torture and other degrading treatment. . . .''
The State Department report on human rights practices also acknowledges that resistance groups such as the Mojahedin have become the target of the political repression of the Iranian regime. The report states that supporters of political organizations ``such as the Mojahedin, are believed to make up a large number of those executed each year.'' Photographic evidence of the flogging and hangings that supporters of the Mojahedin are subjected to was provided at a hearing on March 6, 2002 of the House Subcommittee on International Operations and Human Rights of the Committee on International Relations.
The President announced recently that in dealing with regimes such as Iran's, ``the price of indifference would be catastrophic.'' I agree, and I urge the Administration to review all options available to hold the Iranian government accountable for its support of terrorism and its abysmal human rights record, and to help promote democratic change in the country.
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