Middle East

U.S. Designates More Iranian Human Rights Offenders

Undated image of jailed Iranian lawyer Nasrin Sotoudeh, who began a hunger strike on Aug 11, 2020 at Tehran's Evin prison to protest Iran's refusal to free other dissidents threatened by coronavirus outbreaks in Iranian jails. (File)

On August 21, the annual Day of Remembrance and Tribute to the Victims of Terrorism, the U.S. Department of State, to both honor and remember such victims, sanctioned 14 Iranian human rights offenders.

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U.S. Designates More Iranian Human Rights Offenders

Since coming to power in 1979, the Iranian regime has been implicated in assassinations, terrorist plots, and terrorist attacks in more than 40 countries. As Secretary of State Mike Pompeo has said, “The regime’s brutality and amorality know no international borders.”

On August 21, the annual Day of Remembrance and Tribute to the Victims of Terrorism, the U.S. Department of State, to both honor and remember such victims, sanctioned 14 Iranian human rights offenders, 13 of whom were regime officials involved in a brutal and well-planned attack in Switzerland in 1990. The 13 assassins, posing as Iranian diplomats, acted on the highest orders of their government. As in so many of the plots conducted abroad by the regime, these agents of terror pursued and murdered to silence the voice of an Iranian dissident.

However, as Secretary of State Pompeo said in a statement announcing the designations, “It is not only abroad where the Iranian regime uses fear and violence to control Iranian citizens.” The United States also publicly sanctioned Hojatollah Khodaei Souri, director of Iran’s notorious Evin prison, where political prisoners are subjected to cruel and prolonged torture, including rape, beatings, and lack of medical care; and where foreigners are held hostage by the regime in order to elicit concessions from their home governments.

The designations of these 14 Iranian officials for their involvement in gross human rights abuses mean that they and their immediate family members are barred entry into the United States.

”These actions send a message of support to the Islamic Republic of Iran’s many victims worldwide that we will promote accountability for those who spread terror and violence. The United States will continue to pressure Iran to treat its own people with dignity and respect,” said Secretary of State Pompeo.

“The United States looks forward to the day when the perpetrators of Iran’s innumerable human rights violations will face true justice and hopes that these measures offer some comfort and reassurance to the families and friends of those lost to the Iranian regime’s violence and oppression at home and abroad.”