The European Council has approved a ninth package of sanctions on an additional seven individuals it says are responsible for "serious human rights violations" in Iran.
The council said in a statement on June 26 that the new listings include the prosecutor of Isfahan Province and the deputy judge of the provincial Criminal Court of Isfahan, who are responsible for the trials against the protestors Saleh Mirhashmi, Majid Kazemi and Saeid Yaqobi. The three men were executed in May 2023.
The sanctions also target the commander of the Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps (IRGC) forces in Isfahan Province, who oversaw the actions of all security forces in response to anti-government protests that have rocked the country for more than a year.
The protests have been sparked by deteriorating living standards and then amplified by a crackdown on dissent following the death in September of Mahsa Amini while in police custody over an alleged head-scarf violation
The council said it was also putting on the list the governor and head of Rezvanshahr Security Council in Gilan Province, who ordered officers to open fire on protesters, and the police commander of Rezvanshahr in Gilan Province, who executed the orders.
Sanctions also were imposed on the governor of the city of Amol who the council said was responsible for the killing of at least two young Iranian protesters, and the commander of the Imam Hossein Guards Corps of Karaj over the detention and killing of Mohammad Reza Ghorbani and the detention and rape of Amrita Abbassi by the Karaj security forces.
"The European Union and its member states urge the Iranian authorities to stop the violent crackdown against peaceful protests, cease their resort to arbitrary detentions as a means of silencing critical voices, and release all those unjustly detained," the council said in the statement.
With the additions, a total of 223 individuals and 37 entities are now on the list.
The sanctions include an asset freeze, an EU-wide travel ban, and exclude those on the list from receiving funds or economic resources from the bloc.
