The U.S. government has announced new sanctions against senior Iranian officials, including Iranian Attorney General Mohamad Yafar Montazeri, over the crackdown on protests that erupted in September over the death in custody of Mahsa Amini, a young Kurdish woman detained in Tehran for allegedly wearing the veil incorrectly.
The Treasury Department said in a statement that those sanctioned also include the head of the Office for Cyberspace of the Basij force, Moslem Moein; the commander of the Revolutionary Guard in Iran, Hassan Hasanzade; the commander of the Bait al Moqadas Corps of the Revolutionary Guard in the province of Kurdistan, Sadeq Hoseini; and the ‘number two’ for coordination of the Basij force, Hosein Marufi.
Thus, he denounced that «the Iranian regime has responded with a relentless repression of peaceful demonstrations to suppress the voice of the Iranian people» and added that «the Iranian authorities have killed hundreds of peaceful demonstrators, including dozens of children, and have arbitrarily detained thousands of people, in addition to using sexual violence against demonstrators, according to extensive and credible reports».
«Iranian courts have issued harsh sentences against protesters, including the death penalty, following sham trials that lack the guarantees of justice,» he said, before specifying that those sanctioned also include Imen Sanat Zaman Fara Company, a manufacturer of armored vehicles, tactical clothing and materials that are being used by security forces in suppressing demonstrations.
For his part, U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken said in a statement that «as protests continue in Iran, the response by security forces has continued to escalate.» «During the past two weeks, two protesters have been executed, one of them in public, and many others have been sentenced to death,» he said.
«Today’s action is against the official responsible for the trials against protesters, as well as leaders of military and paramilitary organizations that repress and detain protesters, as well as a company that manufactures and gives security forces tools of repression,» he explained.
Iran’s Revolutionary Guard recently confirmed that more than 300 people have been killed since the start of the protests, in what was the first official toll since the start of the demonstrations following the death of Amini, a member of Iran’s Kurdish minority. The figure is lower than the one provided by the NGO Iran Human Rights, which points to more than 400 deaths as a result of repression by the security forces.
Source: (EUROPA PRESS)
