Britain yesterday sanctioned senior officials from the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC), including those who it said were responsible for managing the group’s financial investments.
Britain, along with the EU and the US, has in recent months issued several waves of sanctions against Iran, citing a widespread and often violent crackdown on protests after the death of young Iranian Kurdish woman Mahsa Amini in morality police custody in September.
The protests mark one of the boldest challenges to the ruling theocracy since the 1979 Islamic Revolution. Iran accuses Western powers of fomenting the unrest, which security forces have met with deadly violence.
“Today we are taking action on the senior leaders within the IRGC who are responsible for funnelling money into the regime’s brutal repression,” Foreign Secretary James Cleverly said.
The IRGC was set up shortly after the 1979 Islamic Revolution to protect the clerical ruling system. It has an estimated 125,000-strong military with army, navy and air units, and commands the Basij religious militia often used in crackdowns.
The sanctions – an asset freeze and UK travel ban – were imposed on five members on the board of directors of the IRGC Co-operative Foundation and two senior IRGC commanders operating in Tehran and Alborz provinces.
l Iran’s authorities have committed violations in recent months that may amount to crimes against humanity, a UN-appointed expert told the Human Rights Council, citing cases of murder, imprisonment, enforced disappearances, torture, rape, sexual violence and persecution.
Addressing the Geneva-based council, Javaid Rehman, Special Rapporteur on Iran, said he had evidence that Amini died ‘as a result of beatings by the state morality police’. Iran’s state coroner has said she died from pre-existing medical conditions, not blows to the head and limbs.
Rehman, an independent expert, added that the scale and gravity of crimes committed by authorities as part of the repression following her death ‘points to the possible commission of international crimes, notably the crimes against humanity’.
Iran’s Ambassador Ali Bahreini told the body that the allegations were imaginary and Iran was being singled out and targeted in the council. “They try to portray their imaginations as the reality of the situation in Iran,” he said.
About 527 people were killed in the protests including 71 children, Rehman continued, including some who were beaten to death by security forces. Women and girls were targeted with shotgun fire to their faces, breasts and genitals, he added, citing Iranian doctors.
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