BAKU, Azerbaijan, July 24. The Council of the European Union has imposed sanctions on six additional individuals over what it described as serious human rights violations in Iran.
According to the Council's press service, the new listings include five judges of Iran's Revolutionary Courts, who are accused of issuing sentences against political activists, dissidents and members of religious minorities. The EU said some of the cases were linked to the authorities' response to the 2022 "Woman, Life, Freedom" protests.
"In addition, the Council is targeting Nima Salehi an Iranian hacker and computer engineer, who is the founder and a leading figure within the ‘Ashiyane’ cyber group. Ashiyane Digital Security cooperates closely with the EU-listed Cyber Police (FATA) and the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) and is responsible for intensive cyber-attacks on both domestic opponents and reformists and foreign institutions, thereby assisting the regime’s crackdown against the opposition," the statement said.
With the latest additions, the EU's Iran human rights sanctions regime now applies to 269 individuals and 53 entities. Those listed are subject to an asset freeze in the European Union and a ban on making funds or economic resources available to them. They are also prohibited from entering or transiting through EU member states.
"They consist of an asset freeze, travel bans to the EU, and a prohibition to make funds or economic resources available to those listed. A ban on exports to Iran of equipment that might be used for internal repression, including equipment for monitoring telecommunications, is also in place," the Council added.
The legal acts were published in the Official Journal of the European Union. The EU's sanctions regime targeting human rights violations in Iran was introduced in 2011 and is currently extended until April 2027.
