Canada imposes new sanctions on Iran over alleged human rights violations

Canada has imposed additional sanctions on Iran, targeting police and judicial officials over what Ottawa claimed as gross and systematic human rights violations at home and abroad and actions to destabilize peace and security.

In a statement on Monday, Canada's Foreign Ministry said the latest sanctions target four individuals and two entities, including senior officials and Iran's Law Enforcement Forces, which Canada accused of what they call participating in the crackdown and arrest of protesters that started after the death of an Iranian woman in a police station some seven weeks ago.

The sanctions list includes Hossein Rahimi, Police Commander of Tehran, Ahmad Fazelian, Deputy Attorney General, Asadollah Jafari, Head of the Judicial Administration in North Khorasan Province and Morteza Mousavi, Deputy Head of the Judicial Administration in Mazandaran Province.

Al-Mustafa International University was also named, accused of recruiting students into the Quds Force of Iran’s Islamic Revolution Guards Corps (IRGC).

According to the statement, the sanctions prohibit dealings with the above-mentioned individuals and entities, effectively freezing any assets they may hold in Canada.

Canada has in recent weeks been carrying out a series of sanctions against a wide range of Iranian institutions and persons and permanently denied entry to more than 10,000 Iranian officials.

The latest announcement brings to 93 individuals and 179 entities the total number sanctioned in Iran, effectively freezing their assets in Canada and making them inadmissible to this country.

MG