THE US and European Union (EU) yesterday imposed sanctions on more individuals and businesses they hold responsible for human rights abuses in Iran.
The US Treasury Department imposed sanctions on four senior Iranian law enforcement and military officials involved in crushing protests that erupted last year after an Iranian woman died in the custody of the morality police who enforce strict dress codes.
The department said it was also taking action against the new secretary of Iran’s Supreme Council of Cyberspace (SCC), the authority responsible for Iran’s cyberspace policy and blockage of popular websites.
“The Iranian people deserve freedom of expression without the threat of violent retaliation and censorship from those in power,” Brian Nelson, the department’s under-secretary for terrorism and financial intelligence, said.
The Treasury said it was placing sanctions on three senior officials of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC): Parviz Absalan, the deputy commander of the IRGC Salman Corps of Sistan and Baluchistan Province; Amanollah Goshtasbi, deputy inspector of the IRGC’s ground forces; and Ahmed Khadem Seyedoshohada, a brigadier general in the IRGC’s ground forces.
It also imposed sanctions on Salman Adinehvand, the commander of the Tehran Police Relief Unit of Iran’s LEF, the primary security organisation in charge of crowd control and protest suppression.
Also targeted was Seyyed Mohammad Amin Aghamiri, the new secretary of the SCC, the centralised authority regarding policymaking in the realm of cyberspace.
The EU imposed sanctions on eight Iranians and a mobile telecommunications provider.
The Council of the EU, which brings together the bloc’s member countries, said it was sanctioning Ariantel, a company that “contributed to the telecommunications surveillance architecture mapped out by the Iranian government to quash dissent and critical voices in Iran”.
Other additions to the EU’s sanctions list include legislators in the Iranian parliament, members of the IRGC and the IRCG Co-operative Foundation – the body responsible for managing the IRGC’s investments.
The latest measures mean 211 individuals and 35 entities are now under EU sanctions, the EU Council said in a statement.
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