The Treasury Department on Wednesday announced sanctions against the top Iranian official who oversees the prosecution of protesters and key military figures who have cracked down on protests in recent months.
Iran has been rocked by mass protests over the death of Mahsa Amini, a 22-year-old woman who died after being detained by the regime’s so-called morality police for allegedly not wearing a hijab.
The sanctions announced Wednesday include Iranian Attorney General Mohammad Jafar Montazeri, who issued a directive in late September for courts to issue harsh sentences to protesters.
Iranians protest the death of 22-year-old Mahsa Amini after she was detained by the moral police, in Tehran, on October 1, 2022.
(AP Photo/Middle East Images, File)
Iranian police arrive to disperse a protest marking the 40 days since the death in custody of 22-year-old Mahsa Amini.
(Associated Press)
Two officers from the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) and two senior officials from Iran’s Basij Resistance Forces, an IRGC-controlled paramilitary force, were also sanctioned.
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“We denounce the Iranian regime’s escalating use of violence against its own people defending their human rights,” Treasury Under Secretary for Terrorism and Financial Intelligence Brian Nelson said in a statement.
Iranians protest the death of 22-year-old Mahsa Amini after she was detained by the moral police last month, in Tehran, Thursday, October 27, 2022.
(AP Images/Middle East, File)
Nearly 500 people have been killed since the protests began about two months ago and more than 18,000 have been detained by authorities, according to Human Rights Activists in Iran, an organization that has been monitoring the protests.
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Two prisoners have already been executed. Majidreza Rahnavard, accused of fatally stabbing two members of a paramilitary force, was publicly hanged from a construction crane earlier this month in Masshad. Another prisoner, Mohsen Shekari, was executed on December 8.
Associated Press contributed to this report.
