US sanctions Iran’s attorney general for crackdown on protests after Mahsa Amini’s death

Dec. 22 (EUROPA PRESS) –

The United States government has announced new sanctions against senior Iranian officials, including Iranian Attorney General Mohamad Jafar Montazeri, for the repression of protests that broke out in September over the death in custody of Mahsa Amini, a young Kurdish woman detained in Tehran for allegedly wearing the veil wrong.

The Treasury Department has indicated in a statement that among those sanctioned is also the head of the Office for Cyberspace of the Basij force, Moslem Moein; the commander of the Revolutionary Guard in Iran, Hasan Hasanzadé; the commander of the Bait al Moqadas Corps of the Revolutionary Guard in Kurdistan province, Sadeq Hoseini; and the ‘number two’ for coordination of the Basij force, Hosein Marufi.

Thus, he has denounced that “the Iranian regime has responded with relentless repression of peaceful demonstrations to suppress the voice of the Iranian people” and has added that “the Iranian authorities have killed hundreds of peaceful protesters, including dozens of children, and have detained arbitrarily targeting thousands of people, as well as using sexual violence against protesters, according to extensive and credible reports.”

“Iranian courts have handed down harsh sentences against protesters, including the death penalty, after sham trials that lack the guarantees of justice,” he said, before specifying that among those punished is also the Imen Sanat Zaman Fara Company, a manufacturer of armored vehicles, tactical clothing and materials that are being used by the security forces to repress the demonstrations.

For his part, the US Secretary of State, Antony Blinken, said in a statement that “while the protests continue in Iran, the response of the security forces has continued to escalate.” “During the last two weeks, two protesters have been executed, one of them in public, and many others have been sentenced to death,” he said.

“Today’s action is against the official responsible for trials against protesters, as well as against leaders of military and paramilitary organizations that repress and detain protesters, as well as a company that manufactures and supplies repression tools to the security forces,” has explained.

The Iranian Revolutionary Guard recently confirmed that more than 300 people have died since the start of the protests, which was the first official balance since the start of the mobilizations over the death of Amini, a member of the Iranian Kurdish minority. The figure is lower than that provided by the NGO Iran Human Rights, which points to more than 400 deaths due to the repression by the security forces.