Human rights, the EU sanctions Iran for transnational repression of dissidents

Brussels – The European Union has imposed new sanctions against Iran for continued violations of human rights. The restrictive measures target eight individuals and a criminal network responsible for the transnational repression carried out by the Islamic Republic, through which the ayatollahs silence opponents and dissidents abroad.

The new sanctions were decided today (15 July) by the foreign ministers of the Twenty-Seven meeting in Brussels, during a Council meeting whose main items were the Ukraine war—in the light of the White House’s apparent realignment siding with Kyiv and against Moscow—and the Middle East crisis, with European diplomacies welcoming the agreement on the entry of humanitarian aid into the Gaza Strip stipulated last week by High Representative Kaja Kallas with the Israeli government.

With today’s restrictive measures, Brussels seeks to strike at Tehran’s ability to practice so-called transactional repression, i.e. to silence voices critical of the Iranian regime outside its borders. This is a worrying and growing phenomenon, which is also being addressed in the European Parliament (Eunews has interviewed  the chamber’s rapporteur, Chloé Ridel, to better understand this topic).

Specifically, the EU has imposed sanctions against eight Iranian individuals and one entity who are guilty of serious abuses against political opponents, dissidents, and activists around the world, in particular extrajudicial, summary, arbitrary executions and killings and forced disappearances. The measures include the freezing of assets and the prohibition on providing direct or indirect economic and financial assistance to the targets of the package, as well as preventing those involved from entering the territory of the Union.

Affected bythe twelve-star sanctions regime are the Zindashti network, an organisation linked to the Tehran Ministry of Intelligence and Security (Mois) and considered a criminal group by the EU, and several of its members: head Naji Ibrahim Sharifi-Zindashti and his associates Abdulvahap Kocak, Ali Esfanjani, Ali Kocak, Ekrem Oztunc and Nihat Asan. They are alleged to have been involved, among others, in the assassination of Iranian dissident Mas’ud Molavi Vardanjani and the owner of Iranian broadcaster Gem TV, Saeed Karimian, who were killed in Turkey in 2019 and 2017, respectively.

In addition to them, Mohammed Ansari, one of the leaders of the Quds Force of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, and Reza Hamidiravari, an intelligence officer who, according to Brussels, supervises the operations carried out by the Zindashti network on behalf of the Mois, have also come under the EU’s sights.

Speaking to journalists at the end of today’s session, Kallas reiterated for the umpteenth time the EU’s line on the recent military escalation between Israel and Iran, renamed “the 12-day war”: the Islamic Republic “must not possess nuclear weapons”, she emphasised, stressing that the only way to achieve this goal is through diplomacy.

The
cease-fire negotiated by Donald Trump “is fragile but presents an opportunity to continue the dialogue”, she continued, adding that Tehran “will have to welcome back the UN inspectors.” A point, the latter, on which, however, the Iranian leadership does not seem to want to yield.