Activists Protest, Urging US Sen. Cardin To Advance Iran Bill

Iranian-American activists gathered in front of Senator Ben Cardin’s office Wednesday, protesting his refusal to advance a bill that sanctions leaders of Iran.

The bipartisan Mahsa Amini Human rights and Security Accountability Act (MAHSA Act) passed the House of Representatives with overwhelming majority in September 2023, but has not yet been moved forward for a vote in the Senate.

Democratic Senator Ben Cardin is the chair of the influential Foreign Relations Committee and thus holds the power to mark up the bill or hold it –as he has so far. He represents Maryland, a state with a sizable Iranian community who have been pressing the Senator on the MAHSA Act in the past few months.

“Dear Senator Cardin, your constituents are outside of the Senate Hart building right now in the cold because you have refused to grant them a meeting,” one activist posted on X.

Another activist attempted to answer that question –one that has puzzled many activists and constituents of Cardin.

“When a Senator feels they no longer need to answer to constituents, you see who they are,” said Nick Nikbakht on his X account.

Many Iranian activists have become increasingly critical of the Biden administration for what they believe is “appeasement” of the regime ruling Iran.

Some activists say that Senator Cardin, a senior Democratic party member, would prefer to go along with Biden's diplomatic soft approach with Iran.

The MAHSA Act is named after the 22-year old Kurdish-Iranian girl whose death in hijab police custody in September 2022 sparked country-wide protests, better known as the Women Life Freedom movement, the most serious challenge the clerical regime has so far faced.

The bill passed the house a year after Mahsa Amini’s death (with 410 voting in favor and only 3 voting against). It requires the executive branch to impose sanctions on Iran’s Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei, and the top leadership.