Sanctioning Iran

Following the judicial murder of dual British-Iranian national Alireza Akbari (the accusation of judicial murder represents my words, not those of the government, but they have condemned it in almost equally strong terms) and egregious human rights violations against their own citizens, the UK government yesterday, announced further coordinated sanctions on key Iranian officials, targeting some of the most senior members of the Iranian regime.

  • The horrific violence the Iranian regime is inflicting on its own people is totally unacceptable and is rightly being met with the unified condemnation of the international community. 
  • That is why the UK has announced further sanctions against key Iranian officials including the Commander in Chief of the Islamic Republic of Iran’s Ground Forces, the Deputy Commander of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard, the Basij Resistance Force and their Deputy Commander. 
  • In close cooperation with our international partners Britain is sending a clear message through these sanctions that there will be no hiding place for those guilty of the worst human rights violations.

More details of the sanctions imposed yesterday: those targetted include:

  • Kiyumars Heidari, Commander in Chief of the Islamic Republic of Iran’s Ground Forces: Heidari has publicly admitted to his and his force’s involvement in the violent response to the November 2019 protests that led to the death of at least hundreds of protesters, and he continues to order the repression of protests today
  • Hossein Nejat, Deputy Commander of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) of Sarallah HQ: Sarallah is the division of the IRGC responsible for the security of Tehran, where we have seen some of the most brutal violence against the Iranian people
  • the Basij Resistance Force: the Basij force within the IRGC are mobilised by the regime leadership to enforce the brutal repression on the streets of Iran
  • Salar Abnoush, Deputy Commander of the Basij: Abnoush has publicly described his command-and-control role over Basij forces and continues to lead their repressive tactics today


Foreign Secretary James Cleverly said:

"Those sanctioned today, from the judicial figures using the death penalty for political ends to the thugs beating protestors on the streets, are at the heart of the regime’s brutal repression of the Iranian people.

The UK and our partners have sent a clear message through these sanctions that there will be no hiding place for those guilty of the worst human rights violations."

The UK has now imposed 50 new sanctions in response to human rights violations by the Iranian regime since Mahsa Amini’s death and will continue to take a wide range of actions to hold the regime to account.

These sanctions impose an asset freeze and UK travel ban on the individuals sanctioned and send a wider signal on the UK’s commitment to backing condemnation with action.

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Nick Herbert on his visit to flood hit areas of Cumbria

Please note that the post below was published more than ten year ago on 21st November 2009 Nick Herbert MP, shadow cabinet member for the Environment, Food, and Rural Affairs, was in Cumbria this morning to see the areas affected by the flooding. He writes on Conservative Home about his visit. Here is an extract. I’ve been in Cumbria today to see the areas affected by the floods. I arrived early in Keswick where I met officials from the Environment Agency. Although the river levels had fallen considerably and homes were no longer flooded, the damage to homes had been done. And the water which had got into houses wasn’t just from the river – it was foul water which had risen from the drains. I talked to fire crews who were pumping flood water back into the river, and discovered that they were from Tyne & Wear and Lancashire. They had been called in at an hours’ notice and had been working on the scene ever since, staying at a local hotel. You cannot fail to be impressed by the
Read more

Quotes of the day 19th August 2020

Image
"Wise men profit more from fools than fools from wise men; for the wise men shun the mistakes of fools, but fools do not imitate the successes of the wise."  ( Cato the Elder , who lived 234 BC - 149 BC, quoted in "Lives" by Plutarch.) There is a similar saying by Germany's Iron Chancellor, Otto von Bismarck: Benjamin Franklin is supposed to have put the same saying in a more humorous form: "Wise men profit by the mistakes of others, while fools will not learn even from their own blunders." See also this thread on the "Quote Investigator" website . Let us all be wise and learn from the events of the last few days.
Read more

Quote of the day 24th July 2020

Image
I was moved to put the passage below forward as a quote today when I saw a horrible post on twitter from someone writing that it was "excellent" that someone who took a different view from her about Brexit had died. I won't write which way round it was so that all the Remain supporters can assume the post was from a Brexit fanatic welcoming the death of a remainer and all the Leavers can assume it was a Remainiac welcoming one less Brexiteer. There's been plenty of nasty stuff on both sides but if you catch anyone of your own viewpoint  posting something like that who might listen to you, please do call them out on it - and point out that they're giving everyone on your side of the argument a bad name. Anyway, here's the quote from John Donne.
Read more