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U.S. Representative Young Kim (CA-39) introduced a bipartisan resolution to support human rights protests in Iran following the death of 22-year-old Mahsa Amini and condemn the cruel Ayatollah regime’s oppression of women and its people.
Reps. Abigail Spanberger (VA-07), Maria Salazar (FL-27) and Brian Fitzpatrick (PA-01) joined Rep. Kim as original cosponsors of the resolution.
On September 14, 2022, Iran’s morality police arrested 22-year-old Mahsa Amini for allegedly incorrectly wearing a hijab, and she died shortly after being detained.
“There is nothing moral about brutally beating and killing a young woman. Unfortunately, Mahsa Amini’s death is only the latest example of this regime’s cruel oppression of the Iranian people, particularly women. I stand with the thousands of protesters who have taken to the streets of Iran since Mahsa Amini’s death to protest the Ayatollah regime by cutting their hair, burning their hijabs and demanding accountability and freedom,” said Rep. Kim. “This resolution will demonstrate to the Iranian people that the United States stands with them. The United States must show through words and actions that the Iranian people have our full support in their fight for freedom and basic human rights.”
“In the weeks following the Iranian regime’s murder of Mahsa Amini, we’ve seen devastating images of government thugs oppressing women and violently attempting to stifle peaceful protests. That’s why I’m proud to help introduce this resolution in response. Lawmakers on both sides of the aisle need to make clear that the American people stand with the thousands of Iranians who are marching for their basic freedoms and fundamental human rights,” said Rep. Spanberger.
“The United States has always stood firmly for freedom. As the daughter of Cuban exiles, I am proud to join my colleagues and stand with pro-democracy activists in Iran rallying against tyranny. We denounce, in the strongest terms, the violent and barbaric tactics of the Iranian regime against so many courageous Iranians, especially women like Mahsa Amini, who are rejecting religious extremism and demanding the right to representative government,” said Rep. Salazar.
“The United States supports Iranian women and all Iranian citizens in their fight for freedom,” said Rep. Fitzpatrick. “We will continue to condemn the Iranian Government for committing these heinous acts against their own people.”
“Iranian Americans in California stand in strong opposition to the Ayatollah’s murderous regime and oppression of Iranian women. Many of us had family members and friends murdered by the regime in its 1988 massacre of the MEK and other political dissidents, and many of those killed were women and children. The Iranian people have had enough of the regime’s violence and are demanding justice for Mahsa Amini and other women who have fallen victim to the regime’s crimes against humanity,” said Nasser Sharif, California Society for a Democratic Iran.
“The Ayatollah regime’s brutal murder of Mahsa Amini has ignited a fire in the hearts of the Iranian people, and women are bravely rising up to demand justice for her murder and freedom from the regime’s oppression. We must show them that the United States has their backs, and that the Iranian people will no longer tolerate the regime’s oppression of women and all the people of Iran. They are oppose to any form of one party system, being theocracy or Shah’s dictatorship. I thank Representative Young Kim for introducing this resolution and for her support of the Iranian people in their fight against tyranny,” said Dr. Majid Sadeghpour, Political Director, Organization of Iranian American Communities who Support a Democratic, Secular and Nonnuclear Republic Iran.
Earlier this month, Rep. Kim led a bipartisan letter to President Biden urging the Biden administration to deny entry visas to Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi and his delegation for the United Nations 77th General Assembly in New York.
