US imposes sanctions on 12 Iranian officials for human rights abuses

The United States on Wednesday imposed sanctions on 12 Iranian officials for human rights abuses, including violent crackdowns on protesters, torture of prisoners and targeting Iranian dissidents abroad.

The United States on Wednesday imposed sanctions on 12 Iranian officials for human rights abuses, including violent crackdowns on protesters, torture of prisoners and targeting Iranian dissidents abroad. The sanctions were unveiled around the second anniversary of the death of Mahsa Amini in the custody of Iran’s “morality police.” Her death sparked massive protests throughout the country. Ahead of the anniversary, the Iranian government once again increased its crackdowns on peaceful protesters. “In the two years since Mahsa Zhina Amini’s senseless killing in the custody of Iran’s so-called Morality Police, the Iranian regime has continued to systematically violate the human rights of the Iranian people,” State Department spokesperson Matthew Miller said in a statement. “The United States remains committed to exposing and sanctioning Iranian officials responsible for human rights abuses.” A top State Department official told CNN ahead of the anniversary “it’s important to remember that while we have a new Iranian president, a new Iranian leadership, we’re seeing continuity in this kind of human rights abuse. “It’s important for the international community to judge this government by its actions and not by its words,” said Victoria Taylor, the deputy assistant secretary of state for Iraq and Iran. The new sanctions target four members of the Iran’s security forces who were involved in the violent crackdowns in 2022. One of those sanctioned, Hamid Khorramdel, is the commander of an IRGC unit “responsible for arresting and coercing confessions from activists,” according to the Treasury Department. Another, Mustafa Bazvand, led forces responsible for “killing at least one individual and arresting several journalists covering the violence.”