New caucus in Congress condemns poisoning of Iranian girls

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WASHINGTON (AP) — A brand new bipartisan caucus in Congress is condemning the Iranian authorities over the latest poisoning of college women within the nation, amplifying the rising criticism in Washington in opposition to the Islamic Republic and its disregard for human rights.

Rep. Sheila Jackson Lee, D-Texas, introduced the formation of the Iranian Ladies Congressional Caucus with the assist of almost 20 Republican and Democratic members of the Home.

It is simply the most recent instance of U.S. officers denouncing the therapy of ladies by the Iranian authorities since nationwide protests first erupted over the Sept. 16 loss of life of 22-year-old Mahsa Amini whereas within the custody of Iran’s morality police. Amini was accused of violating Iran’s strict costume code for ladies by sporting her scarf improperly.

These protests, which mark one of many greatest challenges to Iran’s theocracy for the reason that 1979 revolution, have continued for months. Greater than 500 individuals have been killed in demonstrations, based on human rights activists in Iran. Over 19,700 others have been detained by authorities amid a violent crackdown attempting to suppress the dissent.

Earlier this 12 months, the Home overwhelmingly accredited a decision expressing solidarity with the protesters.

Since then, a sequence of suspected poisonings at women’ faculties throughout the nation, which started late final 12 months and have sickened a whole lot of youngsters, fueled claims in regards to the violation of ladies’s and women’ rights and prompted demonstrations.

Iran Supreme Chief Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, who has the ultimate say on all issues of state, spoke publicly in regards to the suspected poisonings final month. He mentioned that whether it is confirmed to be deliberate the culprits must be sentenced to loss of life for committing an “unforgivable crime.”

Iranian officers solely acknowledged the assaults in latest weeks and have supplied no particulars on who could also be behind the assaults or what chemical compounds, if any, have been used. Not like neighboring Afghanistan, Iran has no historical past of spiritual extremists focusing on girls’s schooling.

Advocates and human rights teams have known as on the U.S. and different Western democracies to chop ties with the Islamic Republic, together with any ongoing nuclear negotiations between Washington and Tehran.

Final month, the U.S. took its criticism of Iran’s dealing with of the problem one step additional by imposing extra sanctions on the nation, focusing on individuals and corporations accused of violating girls’s rights throughout a crackdown on anti-government protests over the therapy of younger girls and women.

Included within the sanctions are two jail officers, a number of corporations that manufacture gear for Iranian regulation enforcement, the commander-in-chief of the Iranian military and plenty of others.

The congressional caucus introduced Thursday consists of greater than a dozen lawmakers from each side of the aisle who plan to put in writing resolutions and draft potential laws that focuses on girls’s rights in Iran.

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