ERBIL, Kurdistan Region - Canada on Sunday sanctioned 12 senior officials from Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) and security forces for “gross and systematic human rights violations”, the country’s foreign ministry announced. The sanctions list included 12 officials from the IRGC and Iranian Law Enforcement Forces “who have participated in gross and systematic human rights violations in Iran, including through the lethal suppression of demonstrations across Kurdish areas of Western Iran,” read the foreign ministry’s statement. The statement added that the list of sanctioned officials included but was not limited to Morteza Mir Aghaei, commander of the IRGC’s Basij paramilitary forces, Governor of Kurdistan province Esmaeil Zarei Kousha, IRGC General Seyeh Sadegh Hosseini, and Commander of the Law Enforcement Forces Rahim Jahanbakhsh. “The Iranian regime continues to brutally oppress its people and to deny them their fundamental rights and freedoms. We hear the pleas of the Iranian people and we commend them for their bravery and resilience. Canada will not stop advocating for Iranians and their human rights,” Canadian Foreign Minister Melanie Joly said regarding the sanctions. The IRGC and Iranian security forces are accused of the murder of hundreds and arrest of thousands since protests started last September across the country, sparked by the death of young Kurdish woman Zhina (Mahsa) Amini while in the custody of the morality police. In their latest report on February 20, the US-based Human Rights Activists News Agency (HRANA) said that at least 530 protesters, including 71 children, have been killed and over 19,700 have been arrested since the protests began. Several Iranian officials and institutions have been sanctioned by the West ever since. Earlier this month, the European Union imposed asset freezes and visa bans on Iran’s Ministers of education and culture, along with 30 other Iranian lawmakers, judiciary authorities, and prison authorities. The UK has imposed 50 new sanctions in response to the human rights violations by the Iranian government against protestors.
