File #: Res 1463-2000    Version: * Name: Sever ties with Iran until the ten Jewish prisoners are released.
Type: Resolution Status: Filed
Committee: Parks, Recreation, Cultural Affairs, and International Intergroup Relations
On agenda: 7/27/2000
Enactment date: Law number:
Title: Resolution calling upon President Clinton and the United States Congress to sever all diplomatic and economic ties with Iran until the ten Jewish prisoners are released unharmed.
Sponsors: Noach Dear, Herbert E. Berman, Adolfo Carrion, June M. Eisland, Lloyd Henry, Karen Koslowitz, Guillermo Linares, Michael C. Nelson, Martin J. Golden, Walter L. McCaffrey, Stanley E. Michels, Jerome X. O'Donovan, Christine C. Quinn, Jose Rivera
Council Member Sponsors: 14
Res. No. 1463 Title Resolution calling upon President Clinton and the United States Congress to sever all diplomatic and economic ties with Iran until the ten Jewish prisoners are released unharmed. Body By Council Members Dear, Berman, Carrion, Eisland, Henry, Koslowitz, Linares, Nelson and Golden; also Council Members McCaffrey, Michels, O'Donovan, Quinn and Rivera Whereas, Thirteen members of the Jewish community of Iran were arrested by Iranian authorities in March 1999; and Whereas, The thirteen prisoners were tried on charges of spying for Israel and the United States; and Whereas, It is widely believed that the only significant evidence supporting the charges were torture-induced confessions made without the presence of legal counsel; and Whereas, Ten of the prisoners, including Hamid "Daniel" Tefileen, Asher Zadmehr, Ramin Nematizadeh, Mechanech Nasser Levihaim, Ramin Farzam, Javid Ben-Yacoub, Farhad Seleh, Shahrokh Paknahad, Farzad Kashi, and Farmaraz Kashi were convicted and sentenced to varying lengths of time in Iranian prisons; and Whereas, The trial and conviction of these ten men have been criticized worldwide as a blatant violation of human rights by the tyrannical hardliners of the Iranian government; and Whereas, New York City is home to a large Jewish community of Iranian origin and to a diverse population that opposes all violations of human rights; and Whereas, The New York City Council will not accept this ongoing violation of the rights of the ten remaining prisoners in Iran; and Whereas, There have been numerous recent initiatives intended to expand the economic relationship between the U.S. and Iran; and Whereas, The United States should end all initiatives to expand its economic relationship with Iran; and Whereas, The U.S. should completely sever all existing economic and diplomatic ties with Iran in order to compel the authoritarian republic to release the ten men; now, therefore, be it, Resolved, That the Council of the City of New York calls upon President Clinton and the United States Congress to sever all diplomatic and economic ties with Iran until the ten Jewish prisoners are released unharmed. MW:bg LS#3275 7/17/00 |1013| - 2 -