US Imposes Sanctions on Iran for Human Rights Violations
“In the two years since Mahsa Zhina Amini’s senseless killing in the custody of Iran’s so-called ‘Morality Police,’ the Iranian regime has continued to systematically violate the human rights of the Iranian people," Miller said.
WASHINGTON DC, United States (Kurdistan 24) – The U.S. State and Treasury Departments on Wednesday announced new sanctions on Iran for human rights violations.
This action follows one day after State Department Spokesperson Matthew Miller identified five issues that need to be addressed in order to improve ties between Washington and Tehran, as Iran’s new president, Masoud Pezeshkian, has proposed.
One issue cited by Miller was the need for Iran to “stop cracking down on the human rights of its own people.” That also relates to a second issue which Miller raised on Monday: “stop plotting to kill political opponents.”
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New U.S. Sanctions—Tribute to Mahsa Zhina Amini
Both issues are addressed in the new sanctions announced on Wednesday.
“The United States is today designating 12 individuals in connection with Iran’s violent and coercive tactics, both inside and outside Iran,” Miller said in a written statement, as he explained, “We are taking these actions in coordination with Australia and Canada, which are each also rolling out new sanctions this week” for human rights abuses in Iran.
“In the two years since Mahsa Zhina Amini’s senseless killing in the custody of Iran’s so-called ‘Morality Police,’ Miller said, paying tribute to the young Kurdish woman, “the Iranian regime has continued to systematically violate the human rights of the Iranian people.”
Indeed, the new sanctions were announced on the second anniversary of her death.
“Mahsa’s arrest and death for challenging the regime’s mandatory hijab laws sparked a nationwide movement and call: ‘Woman, Life, Freedom,’” Miller continued.
Many of those sanctioned on Wednesday were involved in harsh and violent actions against those protests.
“The Iranian government responded to this movement with brutal suppression, including murder, torture, sexual violence, and other acts of repression,” Miller explained, as he affirmed, “The United States remains committed to exposing and sanctioning Iranian officials responsible for human rights abuses.”
Miller cited the three organizations being targeted for their human rights abuses: the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC); Iran’s Prisons Organization, and “those responsible for lethal operations overseas.”
Sanctioned IRGC Persons
Those sanctioned include four individuals in the IRGC. Hamid Khorramdel is commander of the IRGC’s Fatah Corps of Kohgiluyeh and Boyer Ahmad province in southwest Iran.
Under Khorramdel’s “leadership and in coordination with law enforcement and the Basij,” the IRGC Fatah Corps “suppressed protests in 2019 and 2022 by arresting and detaining protesters,” a Treasury Department statement said.
“During the 2022 crackdown” that followed Amini’s death, “IRGC forces under Khorramdel’s command were responsible for arresting and coercing confessions from activists,” the statement said.
Mustafa Basvand, commander of the IRGC and Basij in Babolsar county in Mazandaran province, in northern Iran, on the coast of the Caspian Sea, was also sanctioned.
“During the nationwide protests” in October 2022, “forces under Basvand’s command led the regime’s crackdown in Babolsar, killing at least one individual and arresting several journalists covering the violence,” it added.
Golestan province lies in northeastern Iran, on the border with Turkmenistan. Ali Malek Shahkoui is commander of the IRGC’s Golestan Corps and “orchestrated the IRGC’s response to the 2022 protests in Golestan, where troops under his command violently suppressed protests and arrested demonstrators,” the Treasury Department stated.
Kermanshah province lies in western Iran, just across the border from the Iraqi city of Khanaqin. Saeed Beheshti Rad is the deputy coordinator of the IRGC’s Hazrat Nabi Akram Corps in the province.
“Forces under Beheshti Rad’s command were responsible for the violent crackdown on peaceful protests in both 2019 and 2022,” Treasury explained.
Sanctioned Persons Running Iranian Prisons
“Many of those who protested against the Iranian regime in 2019 and 2022 found themselves ensnared in Iran’s prison system,” according to the Treasury Department statement, which described the system as “notorious for its cruelty and wanton disregard for the welfare of its charges.”
South Khorasan Province lies in eastern Iran, on the border with Pakistan. Its capital city is Birjand.
Those sanctioned include Ali Abdi, who has been Director-General of South Khorasan Province Prisons since July 2022. During his tenure, “numerous prisoners at Birjand Central Prison” have been “executed for drug offenses other than those that would allow the death penalty,” while “others have died due to lack of medical care,” the statement said.
“A disproportionately high number of those executed belong to Iran’s oppressed Baluch minority group,” it added. Notably, the Baluch are Sunnis.
Alireza Babaei Farsani is the Director-General of Isfahan Province Prisons. The Iranian rapper, Toomaj Salehi, was subjected to torture in Isfahan Central Prison “with the goal of forcing him into a televised confession,” the Treasury Department said.
“In Dolatabad Women’s Prison, also in Isfahan province,” it continued, prison officials “tasked inmates with torturing and harassing other prisoners, particularly those incarcerated for political offenses.”
The prison’s leadership, it continued, has, likewise, “engaged in systematic corruption and sexual violence, including the prostituting of inmates.”
Ahmad Reza Azadeh heads Sepidar Prison. Between 2019 and 2023, he headed Shiban Prison. Both are located in Ahvaz, Khuzestan province, in southwestern Iran, bordering Iraq.
Inmates under his administration include those arrested during the 2022 nationwide protests following Amini’s death. “At least one is facing imminent execution for participating in these protests under spurious charges,” the Treasury Department said,”including being responsible for the death of a child, which eyewitnesses attributed to Iranian security forces.”
Since July 2022, Gholamreza Roshan has headed Khuzestan Province Prisons. In prisons under his authority, “political prisoners have been subjected to torture and other ill-treatment and denied necessary medical treatment,” the Treasury Department said, while “prison officials in Shiban Prison have profited from the sale of addictive drugs to inmates, particularly those convicted under political offenses.”
Persons Sanctioned for External Plotting
Yahya Hosseini Panjaki is Deputy Intelligence Minister for Internal Security Affairs within the Ministry of Intelligence and Security (MOIS.)
He oversees regime efforts to assassinate dissidents abroad and “has been linked to multiple MOIS-sponsored plots” that were “carried out in coordination with narcotics traffickers and terrorist groups, including Hizbollah,” the Treasury Department said.
In July 2018, German police foiled an Iranian plot to bomb a rally of Iranian dissidents in Paris. Panjaki played a role in that plot, Treasury stated.
Javad Ghaffarhaddadi heads the IRGC-Intelligence Organization’s Special Operations division, it explained.
“The IRGC-IO has played a key role in targeting critics of the Iranian regime abroad, including the 2019 kidnapping of France-based journalist and political refugee Ruhollah Zam,” it added, which led to his execution in Iran.
The IRGC also plays a “similar role” within Iran, arresting and interrogating Iranians who participate in anti-regime protests, it said.
Perhaps, most notable, however, was the Treasury Department’s suggestion that the new Iraqi government has cooperated with the U.S. on this issue.
“An IRGC-IO operative who had been working with the U.S.-designated, Iran-backed terrorist organization Harakat al-Nujaba,” it said, “was arrested in Iraq recently in connection with the November 2022 murder in Baghdad of a U.S. citizen, educator Stephen Troell.”
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Hamid Zareikajosangi “is a field operative who is part of the IRGC-QF’s (Qods Force) infamous Department 840,” the Treasury Department said.
Department 840 is an especially sensitive unit, tasked with hitting Western targets outside of Iran. His activities included the “recruitment of a known cyber activist,” the Department said, as well as the recruitment of other individuals outside of Iran.
The last person is Mahmud Baghlani. The Treasury Department describes him only briefly, as “an IRGC affiliate” who is being sanctioned “for having acted or purported to act for or on behalf of, directly or indirectly, the IRGC.”