28 June 2023 :
(June 26, 2023) - Council targets 7 individuals over serious human rights violations
The Council of the European Union decided today to impose a 9th package of restrictive measures on an additional 7 individuals responsible for serious human rights violations in Iran.
The new listings include the Public and Revolutionary Prosecutor of Isfahan province and the Deputy Judge of the Provincial Criminal Court of Isfahan province, who are responsible for the trials against the protestors Saleh Mirhashmi, Majid Kazemi and Saeid Yaqoubi, subsequently executed in May 2023. Today’s sanctions also target the commander of IRGC (Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps) forces in Isfahan province, who oversaw the actions of the IRGC and other security forces in response to anti-government protests.
The Council is also listing the Governor and head of Rezvanshahr Security Council in Gilan province, who ordered officers to open fire on protesters in the context of the 2022-2023 nationwide protests causing numerous deaths and injuries, including to children, and the Police Commander of Rezvanshahr in Gilan province, who executed the orders.
Lastly, sanctions were imposed on the Governor of the city of Amol, responsible for the killing of at least 2 young Iranian protesters, and the commander of the Imam Hossein Guards Corps of Karaj over the detention and killing of Mohammad Reza Ghorbani and the detention and rape of Armita Abbassi by the Karaj security forces.
Restrictive measures now apply to a total of 223 individuals and 37 entities. They consist of an asset freeze, a travel ban to the European Union, and a prohibition to make funds or economic resources available to those listed. A ban on exports to Iran of equipment which might be used for internal repression and of equipment for monitoring telecommunications is also in place.
The European Union and its member states urge the Iranian authorities to stop the violent crackdown against peaceful protests, cease their resort to arbitrary detentions as a means of silencing critical voices, and release all those unjustly detained.
The European Union calls on Iran to end the practice of imposing and carrying out death sentences against protesters, reverse the death penalty sentences pronounced, as well as provide due process to all detainees. The EU also calls upon Iran to end the distressing practice of detaining foreign civilians with a view to making political gains.
Today’s package of listings follows the previous eight adopted by the Council since October 2022, the latest of which was adopted on 22 May 2023.
The relevant legal acts have been published in the Official Journal of the EU.
