The European Union has frozen the assets of 32 Iranian officials for violating human rights in Iran, announcing that they are also barred from tavelling to Europe.
Agence France Presse reports that the EU decision was approved two days ago in a meeting of EU foreign ministers in Luxembourg, but the names of the Iranians affected were not published.
Today’s report does reveal the names of the Islamic Republic officials.
British Foreign Minister William Hague maintained that these individuals are either influential in Iran’s judiciary or are believed to be “directly involved in the oppression of human rights activists and government dissidents.”
The EU foreign ministers announced that the European Union supports U.S. measures aimed at human rights violators in Iran.
In September, the U.S. announced that it is imposing sanctions against eight Islamic Republic officials for violating human rights. The list included three current cabinet ministers, three military and security commanders as well as Iran’s current Prosecutor General and former prosecutor for Tehran.
The EU announced that it is highly concerned about the state of human rights in Iran, the surge in executions and the crackdown on Iranian citizens.
The EU list of Iranian officials under sanction includes several military and security officials, including head of Iran’s security forces, Esmail Ahmadi Moghaddam; the head of Basij, Mohammadreza Naqdi, and Abdollah Araghi, the deputy commander of Revolutionary Guards Ground Forces.
Iranian judiciary officials under EU sanctions include amongst several others, Hassan Shariati, the head of the Mashhad justice department; Abbas Jafari Dowlatabdi, the Tehran Prosecutor, and Gholamhossein Mohseni Ejei, Iran’s Prosecutor General.
