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U.S. Marks One Year Anniversary of Mahsa Amini's Death
It’s been a year since a young Kurdish Iranian woman, Mahsa Amini, died in the custody of Iran’s notorious Morality Police. She had been arrested for improperly wearing her hijab. The protests that followed, led by women and girls, and joined by brothers, fathers, and sons, were the most intense and wide-spread anti-government demonstrations since the start of the Islamic Republic in 1979.
The regime responded with a brutal crackdown: hundreds of people were killed; tens of thousands arrested; at least seven executed.
In a statement marking the anniversary of Mahsa Amini’s death, President Joe Biden said, “In the face of continued oppression and violence, the citizens of Iran remain committed to this movement and to their fight for a free and democratic future. Iranians alone will determine the fate of their country, but the United States remains committed to standing with them.”
Looking back over the year, President Biden pointed to the U.S.-led campaign to oust the Iranian government from the UN Commission on the Status of Women; the creation of a UN fact-finding mission to investigate the regime’s human rights abuses; the assistance the U.S has given the Iranian people to access the Internet and avoid censorship. Additionally, the U.S. has sanctioned over 70 individuals and entities for supporting the regime’s oppression.
On September 15, the U.S. announced additional sanctions targeting, in President Biden’s words, “some of Iran’s most egregious human rights abusers.”
The designations, announced by the U.S. Treasury Department in coordination with Britain, Canada, Australia and other partners, target 29 individuals and entities in connection with Amini’s death and the regime’s continued efforts to silence dissent. The designations include leaders of Iran’s security forces; the head of Iran’s Prison Organization; two companies that assist in the regime’s internet censorship; and several state-controlled media organizations.
Separately, Secretary of State Antony Blinken announced the United States is taking steps to impose visa restrictions on 13 Iranian officials and other individuals for their involvement “in the detention or killing of peaceful protestors or the inhibition of their rights to freedom of expression or assembly.”
Secretary Blinken noted that the Iranian people have been met with “unspeakable violence” by the Iranian regime. The United States, he declared, “will continue to take appropriate actions, alongside our international partners, to hold accountable those who suppress Iranians’ exercise of human rights.”