Brussels: Europe and the Arabs
Today the Council of the European Union decided to impose the ninth package of restrictive measures on 7 additional individuals responsible for gross human rights violations in Iran.
According to a European statement issued in Brussels, the new lists include the Prosecutor General and Revolutionary of Isfahan Province and the Deputy Judge of the Regional Criminal Court of Isfahan Province, who are responsible for the trial of demonstrators, Saleh Marhashmi, Majid Kazemi, and Saeed Al-Yaqoubi, who were later executed in May 2023.
Today the sanctions also target the commander of the IRGC forces in Isfahan province, who oversaw the actions of the IRGC and other security forces in response to the anti-government protests.
The council also listed the governor and head of the Security Council Rezvanshahr in Gilan Province, who ordered officers to open fire on demonstrators in the course of the 2022-2023 nationwide protests, causing many deaths and injuries, including children, and the police chief in Rezvanshahr in the province Ceylan, who carried out orders.
Finally, sanctions were imposed on the governor of the city of Amal, who is responsible for the killing of at least two young Iranian demonstrators, and the commander of the Imam Hussein Guard Corps in Karaj on the background of the arrest and detention of Mohammad Reza Ghorbani. Amrita Abbasi was raped by Karaj security forces.
The restrictive measures now apply to a total of 223 individuals and 37 entities. It consists of an asset freeze, a travel ban to the European Union, and a ban on making funds or economic resources available to those on the list. Exports to Iran of equipment that could be used for internal repression and communications monitoring equipment were also banned.
The statement concluded by saying, "The European Union and its member states urge the Iranian authorities to stop the violent repression against peaceful protests, to stop resorting to arbitrary arrests as a means of silencing critical voices, and to release all those unjustly detained."
The European Union calls on Iran to end the practice of imposing and carrying out death sentences against demonstrators, to overturn the death sentences imposed, as well as to provide due process for all detainees. The EU also calls on Iran to end the painful practice of detaining foreign civilians for political gain.
Today's package follows the previous eight packages adopted by the Council since October 2022, the latest of which was adopted on May 22, 2023. The relevant legal texts have been published in the Official Journal of the European Union.