Invoice awarding Congressional Gold Medal to People held in Iran hostage disaster heads to Biden's desk

The Home this week handed a invoice that may award the Congressional Gold Medal to People who had been taken hostage in Iran in 1979, sending the measure to President Biden’s desk for his approval.

Home lawmakers handed the laws by voice vote. Final week, the Senate authorized the invoice by unanimous consent. The Congressional Gold Medal is the very best honor Congress can award.

The measure requires awarding the Congressional Gold Medal to the previous hostages held in Iran “highlighting their resilience all through the unprecedented ordeal that they lived by means of and the nationwide unity it produced, marking 4 a long time since their 444 days in captivity, and recognizing their sacrifice to the USA.”

Greater than 50 folks had been taken hostage within the U.S. Embassy in Tehran on Nov. 4, 1979, by Iranian college students who supported the nation’s Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini. These held captive ranged from the Chargé d’Affaires to junior employees members, in response to the State Division’s Workplace of the Historian.

The diplomats had been held for 444 days within the incident that has turn out to be often called the Iran Hostage Disaster. They had been put by means of bodily and psychological torture, in response to the laws, together with mock executions, beatings, solitary confinement and inhospitable residing environments.

The hostages had been launched on Jan. 20, 1981. In response to the workplace of Rep. Tom Suozzi (D-N.Y.), 35 of the unique hostages are nonetheless alive.

“I used to be 17 years previous in 1979 and I nicely keep in mind, as many People do, that the Iran Hostage Disaster was a painful time in our historical past. However that ache can not cease us from recognizing the true ache and sacrifice by these particular People,” Suozzi stated in an announcement.

Rep. Ralph Norman (R-S.C.) stated the laws “will honor the captured United States diplomats, navy personnel and civilians with the popularity they deserve.”

“Throughout this time the hostages had been subjected to intense bodily and psychological torture, however their spirit by no means waivered. These held captive confirmed extraordinary braveness by frequently participating in acts of resistance towards their captors, corresponding to by refusing to signal condemnations of the USA regardless of the gross violations of their human rights,” he stated on the Home ground Wednesday.

“This notorious incident in historical past lasted 444 days and it’s important that we proceed to recollect the bravery proven by these brave People,” he added.

The laws requires awarding a single Congressional Gold Medal to the 53 hostages held in Iran “in recognition of their bravery and endurance all through their captivity.” After it’s awarded, it could be placed on show on the Nationwide Museum of American Historical past of the Smithsonian Establishment.