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The Treasury Department was photographed in Washington, DC on January 18, 2023.
Washington CNN —
The Biden administration on Wednesday took motion in opposition to a number of Iranian officers and entities for committing human rights abuses in opposition to ladies and ladies as a part of its newest spherical of sanctions in opposition to the Tehran authorities for its crackdown on unrest within the nation.
The sanctions additionally embrace these in opposition to two senior officers answerable for “critical” human rights abuses within the nation’s jail system, based on the U.S. Treasury Department, which got here on Wednesday because the world celebrated International Women’s Day.
The Treasury Department, working with the European Union, Britain and Australia, has additionally imposed sanctions on three Iranian corporations, Iran’s high commander, “senior” leaders of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps and Iranian officers who the U.S. authorities claims are “central” to Iran’s capacity to dam web entry.
This marks the tenth spherical of economic sanctions imposed on Iran for the reason that Iranian regime brutally cracked down on peaceable protests following the loss of life of 22-year-old Martha Amini final yr. The crackdown posed the Iranian regime’s largest home menace in years. However, the nationwide protests that started final September have since petered out within the face of a wave of brutal repression in opposition to protesters, particularly ladies.
“Alongside our companions and allies, the United States stands with Iranian ladies as they assert their basic freedoms within the face of a brutal regime that treats ladies as second-class residents and makes use of all means to suppress their voices,” mentioned Brian Nelson, the Treasury Department’s high undersecretary for monetary sanctions.
The two sanctioned jail officers, Ali Chaharmahalli and Dariush Bakshi, ran prisons the place political prisoners and protesters have been tortured, sexually abused and violently intimidated, based on the Treasury Department.
According to the US, Bakshi has “personally overseen” the mistreatment of prisoners held by the regime for political or spiritual causes.
“Both officers have been complicit in abuses by safety forces in opposition to prisoners of their custody, together with rape, torture and different merciless, inhuman or degrading therapy,” Blinken mentioned.
The sanctions additionally got here after CNN printed an in depth report final month about an unprecedented community of secret torture facilities that Iran is utilizing to quell political unrest.
According to the Treasury Department, the three corporations sanctioned on Wednesday – Naji Pas Company, Naji Pars Amin Laboratory and Entebag Gostar Seper Company – and their executives have helped procure provides and supplies for Iranian safety businesses.
Other Iranian officers focused by the U.S. on Wednesday included Mahdi Amiri, a “key determine” within the regime’s web shutdown within the face of widespread protests, Saeed Abdulrahim Mousavi, commander-in-chief of the Islamic Republic of Iran’s Armed Forces, and Habib Shahsavari, commander of the Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corps, based on the Treasury Department.
According to the US, forces underneath Mousavi’s command have suppressed peaceable protests in 2019 and 2022, allegedly firing weapons at protesters, whereas forces led by Shaasvari “detained and tortured” folks.
“We will proceed to take motion in opposition to regimes that proceed to perpetrate abuse and violence in opposition to their very own folks, particularly ladies and ladies,” Nelson mentioned.