EU sanctions additional eight individuals and one entity

The Council decided to impose restrictive measures on additional 8 individuals and one entity responsible for serious human rights violations in Iran.

In particular, the Council is sanctioning members of the judiciary responsible for handing down death sentences in unfair trials and for the torturing of convicts.

It is also sanctioning:

  • conservative clerics undermining the freedom of girls and women or propagating hate against women
  • a member of the Iranian Parliament (Madjles) and its spokesman for the cultural commission
  • the spokesman of the EU-listed Headquarters for Enjoining Right and Forbidding Evil
  • the Supreme Council of Cultural Revolution, a body which promoted several projects undermining the freedom of girls and women and discriminating minorities.
  • the chief for cultural affairs and policy evolution at EU-listed Islamic Republic of Iran Broadcasting (IRIB), which broadcasted forced confessions from foreign hostages during the 2022/2023 protests.

Restrictive measures now apply to a total of 204 individuals and 34 entities. They consist of an asset freeze, a travel ban to the EU and a prohibition to make funds or economic resources available to those listed. A ban on exports to Iran of equipment which might be used for internal repression and of equipment for monitoring telecommunications is also in place.

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 EU calls on Iran to end the practice of imposing and carrying out death sentences against protesters, reverse the death penalty sentences pronounced, as well as provide due process to all detainees. The EU also calls upon Iran to end the distressing practice of detaining foreign civilians with a view to making political gains.

Today’s package of listings follows the previous five adopted by the Council on 17 October, 14 November, 12 December, 23 January and 20 February.

The relevant legal acts have been published in the Official Journal of the EU.