Washington
CNN
—
The Biden administration took motion Wednesday towards a number of Iranian officers and entities for committing human rights abuses towards ladies and ladies within the newest spherical of sanctions towards Tehran over its crackdown on unrest within the nation.
Because the world marked Worldwide Ladies’s Day, Wednesday’s actions embrace sanctions towards two senior officers in Iran’s jail system liable for “critical” human rights abuses, in line with the US Treasury Division.
“The US stays deeply involved that Iranian authorities proceed to suppress dissent and peaceable protest, together with by way of mass arrests, sham trials, hasty executions, the detention of journalists, and using sexual violence as a method of protest suppression,” mentioned US Secretary of State Antony Blinken.
In coordination with the European Union, United Kingdom and Australia, the Treasury can be sanctioning three Iranian firms, a prime Iranian commander, a “high-ranking” chief of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps and an Iranian official the US authorities alleges is “central” to Iran’s capacity to dam web entry.
That is the tenth spherical of economic sanctions towards Iran because the regime’s brutal crackdown of peaceable protests after the dying of 22-year-old Mahsa Amini final 12 months posed the most important home menace to the Iranian regime in years. However since then, the nationwide protests that began final September have petered out within the face of a brutal wave of repression towards protestors, particularly ladies.
“The US, together with our companions and allies, stand with the ladies of Iran, who advocate for basic freedoms within the face of a brutal regime that treats ladies as second-class residents and makes an attempt to suppress their voices by any means,” mentioned below secretary Brian Nelson, the Treasury’s prime official liable for monetary sanctions.
The 2 sanctioned jail officers, Ali Chaharmahali and Dariush Bakhshi, have run prisons the place political prisoners and protesters have been tortured, sexually abused and violently threatened, in line with the Treasury.
Bakhshi, in line with the US, has “personally overseen” the abuse of prisoners who’re being held by the regime for political or spiritual causes.
“Each officers have been complicit within the mistreatment of inmates of their custody by safety forces, together with by way of rape, torture, or different merciless, inhumane, or degrading remedy,” mentioned Blinken.
The sanctions additionally come after CNN revealed an in depth report final month on an unprecedented community of secret torture facilities utilized by Iran to crush political unrest.
The three firms sanctioned Wednesday – Naji Pas Firm, Naji Pars Amin Institute and Entebagh Gostar Sepehr Firm – and their management have helped procure items and materiel for Iran’s safety providers, in line with the Treasury.
The opposite prime Iranian officers focused by the US Wednesday embrace Mahdi Amiri, who has been “central” to the regime’s web shutdowns within the face of widespread protests, in addition to Sayyed Abdolrahim Mousavi, the commander in chief of the Islamic Republic of Iran Military, and Habib Shahsavari, a commander within the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, in line with the Treasury.
Troops below Mousavi’s command have suppressed peaceable demonstrations in 2019 and 2022, together with allegedly firing weapons at demonstrators, and forces led by Shahsvari have “detained and tortured” individuals, in line with the US.
“We’ll proceed to take motion towards the regime, which perpetuates abuse and violence towards its personal residents— particularly ladies and ladies,” mentioned Nelson.