WASHINGTON — In the present day, the U.S. Division of the Treasury’s Workplace of International Belongings Management (OFAC) is focusing on the Prosecutor Common and key navy and paramilitary officers in Iran, in addition to an organization manufacturing and offering Iran’s Regulation Enforcement Forces with anti-riot tools. As nationwide protests proceed all through Iran, the response from Iranian safety forces has continued to escalate. Up to now two weeks, two protestors have been executed, one publicly, and a number of other others have been sentenced to dying. In the present day’s motion targets the senior official overseeing the prosecution of protestors, in addition to leaders of navy and paramilitary organizations violently cracking down and detaining protestors and an organization that procures and offers safety forces with instruments of suppression.
“We denounce the Iranian regime’s intensifying use of violence towards its personal people who find themselves advocating for his or her human rights,” mentioned Below Secretary of the Treasury for Terrorism and Monetary Intelligence Brian E. Nelson. “The US and our companions are devoted to holding Iranian officers to account for egregious abuses dedicated towards Iranian residents preventing for his or her elementary freedoms.”
In the present day’s actions are taken pursuant to Government Order (E.O.) 13553, which authorizes the imposition of sanctions on individuals with respect to sure critical human rights abuses by the Authorities of Iran, an official of the Authorities of Iran, or an individual performing on behalf of the Authorities of Iran, and follows a collection of designations focusing on key members of the Iranian state equipment liable for the crackdown on peaceable demonstrators, together with Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) Intelligence Group Commander Mohammad Kazemi and Deputy Commander for Operations Abbas Nilforushan.
Mohammad Jafar Montazeri
Mohammad Jafar Montazeri (Montazeri), Iran’s Prosecutor Common, additionally known as the Lawyer Common, oversees prosecutions and the enforcement of prison judgments all through Iran, together with such actions introduced in Iran’s Revolutionary Courts, the first venue for charging these arrested within the protests. In late September, Montazeri issued a directive to courts to behave “decisively” and difficulty harsh sentences to a lot of these arrested throughout the ongoing protests. The case of the primary executed protestor, a younger man named Mohsen Shekari, proceeded with little resemblance to a significant trial, in accordance with a number of worldwide sources. Mr. Shekari was charged with blocking a avenue and attacking a safety power member in Tehran who wanted stitches. There’s proof that Mr. Shekari was tortured and denied entry to a lawyer. He was executed lower than three weeks after his conviction.
Observers have constantly documented the usage of torture by Iranian authorities throughout investigations for the aim of extracting confessions. Defendants reportedly have additionally been denied the proper to be represented by counsel throughout trials earlier than the Revolutionary Courts. Iranian authorities have used sham Revolutionary Courtroom trials to difficulty no less than a dozen dying sentences for protesters. Dozens extra, together with individuals below the age of eighteen years outdated, are anticipated to be tried on capital prices in reference to protests.
Montazeri is being designated pursuant to E.O. 13553 for being an official of the Authorities of Iran or an individual performing on behalf of the Authorities of Iran (together with members of paramilitary organizations) who’s liable for or complicit in, or liable for ordering, controlling, or in any other case directing, the fee of significant human rights abuses towards individuals in Iran or Iranian residents or residents, or the relations of the foregoing, on or after June 12, 2009, no matter whether or not such abuses occurred in Iran.
Imen Sanat Zaman Fara Firm
Iranian firm Imen Sanat Zaman Fara manufactures quite a few forms of tools for Iran’s Regulation Enforcement Forces (LEF), and specifically, the LEF Particular Units, one of many Islamic Republic’s primary protest suppression forces. Treasury designated the LEF pursuant to E.O. 13553 on June 9, 2011, for its function within the 2009 post-election crackdown, and the LEF Particular Units pursuant to E.O. 13553 on December 7, 2021, for being individuals performing on behalf of the Authorities of Iran liable for or complicit within the fee of significant human rights abuses towards individuals in Iran or Iranian residents.
Amongst different tools, the Imen Sanat Zaman Fara Firm produces armored autos, additionally described as “tactical” autos, to be used in crowd suppression. Through the latest nationwide protests, video and photographic proof has illustrated Iranian safety forces utilizing armored autos to suppress protests and, in some instances, try to run over protestors. LEF Particular Units commander Hassan Karami explicitly lauded the usage of Imen Sanat Zaman Fara Firm armored autos in protest suppression. Imen Sanat Zaman Fara Firm additionally produces computerized grenade launchers, bulletproof vests, shields, and different merchandise utilized by safety forces in protest suppression.
Imen Sanat Zaman Fara Firm is being designated pursuant to E.O. 13553 for materially helping, sponsoring, or offering monetary, materials, or technological help for, or items or companies to or in help of, the LEF, an individual whose property and pursuits in property are blocked pursuant to E.O. 13553.
IRGC and Basij Senior Officers
OFAC can also be designating two senior officers of Iran’s Basij Resistance Forces, a paramilitary group managed by Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC). Moslem Moein (Moein), as chief of the Basij Our on-line world Headquarters, oversees efforts to regulate and censor Iranians’ on-line actions. He has spoken publicly concerning the Basij’s precedence to watch Iranians’ use of the web. Moreover, Moein has advocated for the event of Iran’s nationwide intranet, which might permit the regime to disconnect Iran from the worldwide web. The Iranian authorities continues to filter and block the free move of data in Iran.
Because the just lately appointed Deputy Coordinator of the Basij, Hossein Maroufi (Maroufi) has performed a job within the Basij’s violent response to the protests. Maroufi was additionally concerned within the regime’s crackdown in 2019 throughout nationwide protests stemming from an increase in gasoline costs. In his function because the IRGC Commander of Golestan Province throughout this time, Maroufi was allegedly liable for ordering the usage of lethal weapons towards Iranian protestors, in addition to orchestrating mass arrests of demonstrators.
Moein is being designated pursuant to E.O. 13553 for having acted or presupposed to act for or on behalf of, immediately or not directly, the Basij, an individual whose property and pursuits in property are blocked pursuant to E.O. 13553. Maroufi, is being designated pursuant to E.O. 13553 for having acted or presupposed to act for or on behalf of, immediately or not directly, the IRGC, an individual whose property and pursuits in property are blocked pursuant to E.O. 13553.
In the present day’s motion additional targets two IRGC officers, Hassan Hassanzadeh (Hassanzadeh), the commander of IRGC forces in Tehran, and Seyed Sadegh Hosseini (Hosseini), the commander of the Beit-al Moghadas Corps and IRGC Commander in Kurdistan.
As commander of IRGC forces in Tehran, Hassanzadeh has overseen the crackdown towards protests within the metropolis. Through the latest demonstrations in Tehran, Hassanzadeh introduced that many protestors had been captured, claiming that Basij members had been focused, and that weapons had been confiscated. IRGC forces in Tehran have arrested protestors to allegedly defend the Islamic Republic’s facilities of energy.
Hosseini, in his function because the IRGC Commander in Kurdistan, has spoken out strongly towards protestors within the area he oversees. Hosseini was additionally concerned within the regime’s crackdown throughout the November 2019 protests shortly after he grew to become the IRGC Commander in Kurdistan and commenced serving on the Provincial Safety Council. Throughout this era, Hosseini licensed the usage of lethal power towards unarmed protestors and ordered the mass arrest of demonstrators, resulting in the dying of no less than seven individuals.
Hassanzadeh and Hosseini are being designated pursuant to E.O. 13553 for having acted or presupposed to act for or on behalf of, immediately or not directly, the IRGC, an individual whose property and pursuits in property are blocked pursuant to E.O. 13553.
SANCTIONS IMPLICATIONS
On account of immediately’s motion, all property and pursuits in property of those individuals which are in the USA or within the possession or management of U.S. individuals have to be blocked and reported to OFAC. As well as, any entities which are owned, immediately or not directly, 50 p.c or extra by a number of blocked individuals are additionally blocked. OFAC rules typically prohibit all dealings by U.S. individuals or inside the USA (together with transactions transiting the USA) that contain any property or pursuits in property of blocked or designated individuals.
As well as, individuals that have interaction in sure transactions with the individuals designated immediately could themselves be uncovered to sanctions or topic to an enforcement motion. Moreover, except an exception applies, any international monetary establishment that knowingly facilitates a major transaction or offers vital monetary companies for any of the individuals designated immediately may very well be topic to U.S. sanctions.
The ability and integrity of OFAC sanctions derive not solely from OFAC’s skill to designate and add individuals to the Specifically Designated Nationals and Blocked Individuals (SDN) Record, but in addition from its willingness to take away individuals from the SDN Record per the regulation. The final word objective of sanctions is to not punish, however to deliver a couple of constructive change in habits. For info regarding the course of for searching for removing from an OFAC listing, together with the SDN Record, please consult with OFAC’s Ceaselessly Requested Query 897. Detailed info on the method to submit a request for removing from an OFAC sanctions listing.
Click on right here for figuring out info on the people designated immediately.
