MAHSA Act-The Daily Ledger

The Mahsa Amini Human rights and Security Accountability Act (MAHSA Act) is a bill that was first introduced to the 117th Congress in the wake of the Woman Life Freedom protests in Iran. Its intention is to put sanctions on the leaders of the Islamic Republic of Iran. The bill was reintroduced as H.R. 589 to the House of Representatives and as S.2626 to the US Senate in the 118th congress.

Mahsa Amini

Mahsa Amini (also known as Jina Amini) was a 22-year-old Iranian woman who while on vacation in Tehran, was arrested and brutally beaten by the security forces. She died three days later in their custody. She was arrested for improperly wearing her compulsory hijab. Her name became the codename for the Woman Life Freedom revolution.

MAHSA Act

Highlight of recent human rights abuses in Iran

Human rights abuses in Iran have been widely documented. They span from violation of the rights of ethnic minorities, women, LGBTQ communities, children, and religious minorities. As a result of these violations, the UN has had a special rapporteur since 1984. The current special rapporteur, Javaid Rehman is not allowed entry to Iran. In March 2023, Mr. Rehman expressed that, "The scale and gravity of the violations committed by Iranian authorities, especially since the death of Ms. Amini, points to the possible commission of international crimes, notably the crimes against humanity of murder, imprisonment, enforced disappearances, torture, rape and sexual violence, and persecution."

MAHSA Act

Moreover, the UN Human Rights Council has adopted resolution S35/1:

MAHSA Act

“On the deteriorating situation of human rights in the Islamic Republic of Iran, especially with respect to women and children, adopted on 24 November 2022, the Human Rights Council decided to establish an independent international fact-finding mission on the Islamic Republic of Iran."

From the start of the Woman Life Freedom Revolution in September 2022 until mid-January 2023, 522 protestors were killed, 70 of them children. Close to 20,000 people have been arrested and imprisoned. Many of the prisoners, including the two journalists who broke the news of Mahsa Amini's death, are still in prison. Activists, artists, actors were/ are serving sentences, including a rapper, Toomaj Salehi, who has been in solitary confinement for more than five months without having committed any crimes. Several prisoners have received death sentences with no access to proper council and several protesters have already been executed. Many detainees have been tormented by physical, psychological, and sexual torture.

More than 5000 schoolgirls were poisoned by chemical agents in organized, deliberate, distributed attacks spanning the whole country and affecting close to 100 schools between November 30, 2022, and March 16, 2023 . The full list of atrocities committed against the people of Iran are beyond the scope and focus of this page, but to list a few, the downing of the Ukrainian passenger airliner (PS-572), the Bloody Aban Massacre, and Iran's consistent ranking as the country with the highest executions per capita in the world.

Highlight of the Islamic Republic's attacks, aggression, assassinations, and acts of terrorism The first major act of terrorism linked to the Islamist group that later forms the Islamic Republic of Iran was the arson of Cinema Rex killing more than 377 people. The Islamic republic has conducted several terrorist attacks directly or through proxies; a select list of which are included in Iran and state-sponsored terrorism. According to the March 2023 testimony of General Lloyd Austin, there has been 83 Iran-backed proxy group attacks against Americans since President Joe Biden took office in 2021. The following is a list of Iran-backed proxy groups according to Council on Foreign Relations:

After the Iran hostage crisis, the Iran–United States relations deteriorated. The United States designated Iran's Quds Force ,a branch of the Islmaic Revolutionary Guards Corps (IRGC), as a terrorist organization under president Obama's administration before designating the entire IRGC as a terrorist organization under president Trump's administration. The Islamic Republic has committed conducted terrorist activities and assassinations and attempted terrorism and assassination plots in many countries including: Turkey, Greece, Thailand, Argentina, Germany, France, United Kingdom, and the US. Some of these assassination plots were targeting former senior US officials including the former Secretary of State, Mike Pompeo.