Two Iranian military leaders have been sanctioned by the U.S. Treasury Department for their roles in “serious human rights abuses” during and since the crackdown on Iran’s so-called Green Revolution in 2009.
“The Iranian people have suffered tremendously at the hands of senior officials, who instead of protecting their basic rights have ordered and orchestrated widespread, serious human rights abuses aimed at silencing criticism and punishing dissent,” Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) Director Adam J. Szubin said in a Treasury statement. “In support of the Iranian people’s quest for justice and accountability, we are taking further action today to expose the involvement of senior Iranian government officials in serious human rights abuses.”
Major General Hassan Firouzabadi, “the highest military authority in Iran,” was sanctioned because he oversaw the security forces that were “responsible for serious human rights abuses that have occurred since the contested June 12, 2009, presidential election, including the violent crackdowns on protesters and the mistreatment of political detainees held in a ward of Tehran’s Evin prison,” the Treasury Department says.
Abdollah Araqi, who led the Islamic Revolutionar Guard Corps responsible for Tehran security in 2009, was also sanctioned because his unit “played a key role in the violent crackdown on the post-election protesters.”
The Treasury Department says that”U.S. persons are prohibited from engaging in any transactions with Firouzabadi or Araqi and any assets they may have under U.S. jurisdiction are frozen.”
