In response to the murder of Mahsa Amini while in police custody, the US imposed sanctions on Iran’s Morality Police and key officials.
The US Treasury Department stated in a statement that the penalties are being implemented in response to “abuse and violence against Iranian women and the violation of rights of peaceful Iranian demonstrators.”
According to the source, the US is also placing seven other prominent officials on a blacklist in addition to the Morality Police, including its chief Mohammad Rostami Cheshmeh Gachi and the officer in charge of the Tehran section of the police, Haj Ahmad Mirzaeim.
The deputy commander of Iran’s Basij paramilitary militia, Salar Abnoush, the deputy commander of the Law Enforcement Forces, Qasem Rezaei, the provincial commander, Manouchehr Amanollahi, and the commander of the Iranian Army’s Ground Forces, Kiyumars Heidari, were all sanctioned.
Esmail Khatib, the minister of intelligence, has received new approval after initially receiving it in September.
Mahsa Amini was a brave lady whose murder while being held by the morality police was yet another act of violence by the Iranian regime’s security forces against its own people, according to a statement from Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen.
The Iranian government is being urged to stop its brutality against women and its ongoing violent assault on free speech and assembly, she said. “We condemn this abhorrent conduct in the greatest terms,” she added.
