Canada Issues New Sanctions On Iran, For Rights Violations
Canada imposed fresh sanctions on Iran, Russia and Myanmar Friday, citing human rights violations by their governments.
Canada imposed fresh sanctions on Iran, Russia and Myanmar Friday, citing human rights violations by their governments.
Sanctions were imposed on 22 individuals in Iran, who included senior members of the judiciary, prison system and law enforcement, as well as political leaders, such as senior aides to Iran's Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei and figures in state-directed media outlets, the statement added.
Sanctions on Iran came a day after the Islamic Republic hanged a man convicted in a sham trial of injuring a security guard with a knife and blocking a street in Tehran, the first such execution over recent anti-government unrest. Nationwide protests erupted after the death of 22-year-old Kurdish Iranian woman Mahsa Amini in police custody on September 16.
Western countries have issued repeated statements condemning the government in Tehran for gross disregard of the rights of protesters and have imposed some sanctions on individuals and entities. But they have not imposed more serious economic sanctions or designation of it top leaders for killing of civilians.
The measures also included sanctions against 33 current or former senior Russian officials and six entities involved in alleged "systematic human rights violations" against Russian citizens who protested against Russia's invasion of Ukraine, the Canadian foreign ministry said in a statement.
Since Russia's invasion on Feb. 24, Canada has imposed sanctions on more than 1,500 individuals and entities from Russia, Ukraine and Belarus.
"There is more work to be done, but Canada will never stop standing up for human rights," Canadian Foreign Minister Melanie Joly said.
France's foreign ministry spokesperson said that the European Union is set to approve new sanctions targeting Tehran over human rights abuses in its crackdown on protesters in the country as well as supplying Russia with weapons to be used in the invasion of Ukraine.
Condemning the execution in the “strongest terms,” Anne-Claire Legendre told reporters that “This execution comes on top of other serious and unacceptable violations.”
She added that foreign ministers would discuss new designations on individuals and entities involved in the crackdown and entities exporting drones to Russia. The EU has already imposed two rounds of sanctions since October in the form of asset freezes and travel bans.
Earlier on Thursday, the Islamic Republic hanged Mohsen Shekari, a young protester convicted of injuring a security guard with a knife and closing off a street in the capital Tehran. Nationwide protests that erupted after the death of 22-year-old Kurdish Iranian woman Mahsa Amini on September 16 represent one of the biggest challenges to the Islamic Republic since its establishment in 1979. So far, around 500 civilians have been killed by security forces and at least 18,000 arrested. While many have been released, around 1,500 face criminal charges, and at least 80 detainees face the death sentence.
State Department Spokesperson Ned Price described the execution as "a grim escalation in the regime’s attempt to suppress dissent and quash these protests.” Expressing condolences to his loved ones, he denounced the “draconian sentences and the denial of due process to the accused in the strongest terms.”
Condemning the execution, German Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock described the Iranian regime's contempt for humanity as “boundless," saying that Shekari was “tried and executed in a perfidious summary trial because he disagreed with the regime. But the threat of execution will not stifle people's desire for freedom.”
Vice-President of the German Parliament Katrin Göring-Eckardt tweeted, "Mohsen Shekari was only 23. The Iranian regime executed him for taking to the streets for a free Iran. It reacts with all (un)imaginable brutality to protests. The death penalty is contrary to human rights, everywhere."
UK Foreign Secretary James Cleverly also expressed outrage, and called on the world not to “turn a blind eye to the abhorrent violence committed by the Iranian regime against its own people.”
Norway’s Foreign Minister Anniken Huitfeldt also denounced the execution, and called on the regime to immediately halt executions, and to end the repression of fundamental freedoms.
Javaid Rahman, the United Nations Special Rapporteur on human rights in Iran, also said that he is “absolutely horrified, shocked and outraged by the news,” calling on Iranian authorities to immediately stop the use of death penalty as a weapon against protesters.
Vice-President of the European Parliament Pina Picierno said, “It is the first insane death sentence carried out on a protester in Iran,” and reiterated that the EU will always be “on the side of freedom, on the side of the protesters.”
Former Swedish Foreign Minister Margot Wallström urged the international community to be the voice of Iranians, saying that Sweden and the EU must take action quickly to save others. “The International community needs to speak out loud and clear against this.”
Human rights groups are also condemning the execution. Amnesty International urged the world to make Iranian authorities halt all planned executions and stop using the death penalty as tool of political repression against protesters in their attempt to end the popular uprising. It added that Shekari's execution "[exposed] the inhumanity of Iran's so-called justice system as dozens of others face the same fate".
"The international community must immediately and strongly react to this execution," Mahmood Amiri-Moghaddam, director of the Norway-based group Iran Human Rights, said in a statement, adding, “If Mohsen Shekari's execution is not met with serious consequences for the government, we will face mass execution of protesters.”
Two diplomatic sources told Reuters that the new EU sanctions were expected to be approved and adopted on Monday. According to one of the sources, 21 individuals and one entity would be sanctioned over human rights abuses, while there had been 10 proposals on the drone side.
