Episode 7 - Sarah Raviani

My guest for the 7th episode of the podcast is Sarah Raviani. A first generation Iranian-American Human Rights Activist. She and her collaborative colleagues participated in the most significant legislative effort to emerge from the American Diaspora who were in support of the Iranian protests. The MAHSA Act.The Mahsa Amini Human rights and Security Accountability Act (MAHSA Act) is a bill 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.HR 589 was considered under suspension of rules and passed the House floor with overwhelming majority of the representatives voting for it. 410 representatives voted for the MAHSA Act (209 Republicans and 201 Democrats), Representatives Ilhan Omar, Thomas Massie, and Cori Bush voted against the bill, and 20 representatives did not vote.MAHSA Act's Senate companion bill was introduced to the Senate by Senators Marco Rubio and Alex Padilla on 7/27/2023. According to the Iran International, Senator Ben Cardin is holding up MAHSA Act from being considered for a markup session by the United States Senate Committee on Foreign Relations.This Episode was recorded on November 19th 2023 just over a month after the Hamas’s attack on Israel. Sarah and I dove deeply into the complexities that is Iran along with an overview of the MAHSA Act.