Six European Union (EU) nations plan to impose 16 new bloc sanctions on Iran for its violent crackdown on protests for women’s rights that have taken place in the country since mid-September. The news was published by the magazine Der Spiegel this Monday (3), based on information from a source at the German Foreign Ministry.
In addition to Germany, the other countries advocating sanctions are France, Italy, Spain, Denmark and the Czech Republic. The proposed measures target people and institutions directly responsible for fighting the demonstrations and will be presented at an EU meeting scheduled for October 17 – when they must be unanimously approved, according to the magazine.
In a Twitter post on Monday, German Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock said Iran’s crackdown on the wave of popular dissatisfaction expresses the regime’s fear of “education and the power of freedom”.
“It’s hard to deal with the fact that our foreign policy options are limited,” she wrote. “But we can amplify those voices, create public awareness, make accusations and enforce sanctions. And that’s what we’re doing.”
In addition to the European bloc, Canada announced on Monday new sanctions against Iran, which build on the existing ones. Prime Minister Justin Trudeau’s government has targeted 25 individuals and nine entities, including officials from Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC), the intelligence and security ministries and the moral police.
“The systematic and ongoing persecution of Iranian women must stop,” said Canadian Chancellor Melanie Joly. “Canada applauds the courage and actions of Iranians and will support them as they fight for their rights and dignity.”
Some experts say, however, that sanctions have limited impact and are not enough to bring about significant reforms.
Also on Monday, US President Joe Biden said in a statement that he was “gravely concerned” by reports of intensified repression and promised a swift response. “The US will impose more costs on perpetrators of violence against peaceful protesters. We will continue to hold Iranian authorities accountable and support the rights of Iranians to protest freely.”
On another front, the United Kingdom claimed to have summoned the Iranian chargé d’affaires – the regime’s main diplomat in the country – to deal with the repression of the protests.
Started with the death of Mahsa Amini, 22, in the custody of Iran’s moral police for allegedly not wearing the hijab, the Islamic headscarf, the protests are the biggest show of opposition to the regime in years, with many of the protesters calling for an end to theocracy. in force in the country since 1979.
The government, in turn, claims that the acts are planned by foreign forces to destabilize Iran. The accusations were repeated by the regime’s supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, on Monday, in his first statement on the protests.
He told state media that the wave was not created by “ordinary Iranians” but by the country’s arch-enemies, the US and Israel, and that the security forces are wronged. “Those who attack the police are leaving Iran’s citizens vulnerable to bandits, thieves and profiteers,” he said.
The ayatollah also described Amini’s death as a “bitter incident” that “deeply broke” his heart.
The number of victims in the demonstrations so far is uncertain. While state TV last week confirmed the deaths of 41 people, including members of the security forces, the most up-to-date count by the NGO Human Rights of Iran is 133 deaths.
On Sunday, there was another episode of repression, with the arrest of dozens of students protesting Amini’s death at a prominent university in Tehran.
According to the Mehr news agency, the approximately 200 university students gathered at the scene were attacked by police with tear gas and paintball guns or loaded with non-lethal steel bullets. Many were injured, according to images and videos posted on social media.
Amini, a young woman from the Kurdish town of Saqez, was arrested this month by the moral police in Tehran for allegedly failing to properly wear the Islamic headscarf — officers are responsible for enforcing the Islamic Republic’s strict dress code for women.
Police officers allege Amini suffered a heart attack after being detained and deny that she was assaulted. Activists say, however, that the police approach in such cases has been violent, often with beatings, and members of the young woman’s own family accuse the authorities of lying, preventing them from reading the autopsy report or seeing her body. after dead.
In Iran, after the 1979 Revolution, which made room for a theocratic regime, the law began to state that women are obliged to cover their hair with a veil and wear baggy clothes to cover the shape of their bodies. Those who break the rule face public reprimands, fines and even imprisonment.
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