U.S. Sanctions Iranian Security Forces for Rights Violations

09 June 2011

A man escapes as Iranian security forces use tear gas and beat other protesters with batons during a demonstration in Tehran in November 2009.

The United States is marking the second anniversary of the violent repression of Iran’s opposition by imposing sanctions on the security forces involved in the crackdown.

The sanctions announced June 9 against Iran’s Islamic Republican Guard Corps, the Basij militia, the national police and police commander Ismail Ahmadi Moghadam are the most recent in a series imposed on Iranian officials and organizations for violations of human rights.

“The United States stands with all Iranians who wish for a government that respects their human rights, their dignity and their freedom, and we call on the Iranian government to end its systematic human rights abuses and political hypocrisy,” Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton said in a statement. “Today’s sanctions reflect our commitment to hold accountable those governments and officials that violate human rights and deprive their citizens of the opportunities and future they deserve.”

“The bite, if you will, of these sanctions is only one element,” State Department deputy spokesman Mark Toner told reporters. “It also sends a clear message that we won’t abide by Iran’s continued human rights abuses. As I said, we’ve seen since the June 2009 disputed presidential elections a consistent pattern of abuses going after activists, political parties. And today’s efforts, which are part of an exhaustive process, as you know, that the Treasury Department undertakes, are an effort to call international attention to those people.”

Under the sanctions, any property the organizations or Moghadam have an interest in is blocked, and American individuals and companies can’t transact business with them. Moghadam and members of the Iranian security forces also will be subject to U.S. visa restrictions.

The sanctions are based on an order issued by President Obama in September 2010 to punish those involved in Iran’s human rights abuses since the elections. In a statement, Michael Posner, the assistant secretary of state for democracy, human rights and labor, said the new sanctions “demonstrate that law enforcement agencies not only have a responsibility to enforce the law but also [to] live up to universal human rights commitments and Iran’s own constitution.”

The United Nations, the European Union, the United States and other countries also have sanctioned Iran for violating agreements about its nuclear program. Those sanctions also have hit the Republican Guard Corps and companies it controls, and many top Iranian officials are under visa bans for the European Union as well as the United States.