Republican Rep. Jim Hagedorn of Minnesota introduced a Congressional resolution that recognizes the two-year anniversary of the November 2019 “Bloody November” massacre in Iran, condemns the Islamic regime for the murder of its own civilians, and urges the Biden Administration to update its report that lowered the attack’s death toll.
In a Wednesday press release, Hagedorn’s office described the events that took place during the 2019 anti-government protests in Iran, when the theocratic republic’s citizens took to the streets to voice their opposition to a government-mandated increase in fuel prices, with many chanting in support of “pro-Western and pro-Democracy ideals” while calling for the ending of the country’s corrupt regime.
After protests reached the capital, Iranian security forces — on orders from Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei — began shooting unarmed protesters, with one report released by the Trump administration citing as many as 1,500 civilians killed.
In March, the Biden administration released a revised report that cited only 304 deaths, as per one NGO.
Joined by 36 other members of the House, including Reps. Claudia Tenney (NY), Dan Crenshaw (TX), Ronny Jackson (TX), and Rep. Jim Banks (IN); Hagedorn submitted the fresh resolution.
In it, the Islamic regime is accused of setting in motion “the bloodiest crackdown on protesters since the Islamic Revolution in 1979.”
Claiming the Biden administration’s earlier move “underscores its commitment to appeasing the Iranian regime,” the resolution calls to revert the death toll to the original count.
It also clarifies that “the vast majority of Iranians living in Iran do not support the authoritarian dictatorship of Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei and do not have access to basic human rights.”
In light of those facts, the resolution calls to recognize the two-year anniversary of the “massacre by the Islamic Republic of Iran,” and “condemns, in the strongest possible terms, the human rights atrocities committed against Iranians” by Khamenei and his regime.
It also calls upon the State Department to “restore the recognized death toll” of the attack to 1,500 victims.
In a statement accompanying the resolution, the Iranian regime and its leader were condemned “for crimes against humanity,” as the Iranian people are recognized as victims and given support in their fight for freedom.
In an exclusive statement to Breitbart News on Monday, Rep. Hagedorn stated he was “moved” to introduce the “Bloody November” resolution on the two-year anniversary of the attack, adding that “we remember the hundreds of men, women, and children that were killed by the Iranian regime for peacefully protesting fuel prices and supporting pro-Western and pro-Democracy ideals that inspired their call to action.”
Accusing the Biden administration of “placating the Iranian regime,” he called upon the president to “vehemently reject this act of terror” and revise his administration’s report of the victim count.
“We will continue to stand with the Iranian people who yearn for freedom and a prosperous and peaceful Middle East,” he added.
In response, Iranian Americans for Liberty applauded Hagedorn for “his leadership on this important issue to the Iranian American community,” and adding that the resolution “sends a clear message to the government in Tehran that U.S lawmakers will not remain silent as the Islamic Republic of Iran continues to violate the basic human rights of their citizens on a weekly basis.”
The group, headed by Bryan Leib, also called upon the president to follow through and revise the death toll.
“We call on President Biden to immediately revise their March 2021 report and to stop engaging in diplomacy with the world’s leading sponsor of terrorism,” he said.
Demonstrations erupted across Iran in November 2019 after a major petrol price hike, but were put down by security forces through mass arrests amid a near-total internet blackout.
Last year, Amnesty International accused Iran’s security forces of kidnapping and torture citizens to extract confessions, saying hundreds had been jailed during a sweeping crackdown against protests.
Survivor accounts revealed “a catalogue of shocking human rights violations, including arbitrary detention, enforced disappearance, torture and other ill-treatment,” the London-based human rights group said.
Protestors also reported experiencing waterboarding, electrocution, and sexual violence.
Witnesses say among those tortured were children as young as ten years old. Many of the tortured were forced into offering false confessions and put on “trial” without access to a lawyer.
Follow Joshua Klein on Twitter @JoshuaKlein
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