(Bloomberg) — The European Union announced fresh sanctions on Iran’s security forces as Tehran continues its crackdown against protesters and resumed air strikes on northern Iraq.
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The EU sanctioned the police officers involved in the arrest of 22-year-old Mahsa Amini, the Kurdish-Iranian woman whose death in detention in September sparked some of the biggest protests in Iran since the 1979 revolution.
The penalties, which apply travel bans and asset freezes to 29 individuals and three entities, also target members of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, the commander of the Army’s ground forces, plainclothes Islamic militias and Press TV, an English-language news channel that’s owned and run by Iran’s state broadcaster.
In a statement, the bloc called for an immediate end to the violent police crackdown on the protests and condemned Iran’s “unjustifiable and unacceptable” use of disproportionate force against peaceful protesters.
The EU has been expanding sanctions against Iran for the past month, citing police violence and the country’s sale of military drones to Russia for use in its war on Ukraine. Iran is already subject to comprehensive US sanctions that also restrict trade with Europe.
Amini was arrested by a unit of Iran’s so-called morality police on Sept. 13 for allegedly flouting Islamic dress codes. She died days later in the hospital after collapsing into a coma while in custody.
The subsequent protests have drawn widespread support across the country with demonstrations reported in scores of towns and cities over the past eight weeks. Iranian authorities have responded with brutal force, killing hundreds of people and arresting thousands more, according to rights groups.
Earlier on Monday, Iran’s foreign ministry spokesman, Nasser Kanaani, told reporters in Tehran that the Islamic Republic would reciprocate against any European sanctions, without elaborating.
Read more: How Iran’s Hijab Protests Stoked Broader Public Anger: QuickTake
Death Penalty
According to the Oslo-based Iran Human Rights, at least 326 people have so far been killed by security forces, including 43 children, and at least 14,000 people have been arrested since the protests started.
Iranian officials haven’t provided a death toll since Sept. 24 and have denied that anyone has been killed by security forces.
On Sunday, a protester was formally sentenced to death for “corruption on earth,” the judiciary’s news portal, Mizan Online, said without naming the individual or giving any further details about an arrest or trial.
More than a thousand protesters have been indicted and many face serious charges related to national security that can carry the death penalty.
Officials in Tehran have blamed foreign countries, including the US, Israel and Kurdish political groups, for inflaming and organizing the unrest.
Kurdish activists have strongly denied the accusations and rights groups say Iran’s Kurdish provinces that border Iraq have been heavily targeted by the military and police, resulting in the deaths of scores of people.
Iran’s IRGC started targeting Kurdish political groups and militants in Iraq on Sept. 24 with a barrage of rocket and missile attacks. The attacks resumed on Monday, targeting what the IRGC claimed were “terrorists” in the district of Koysinjaq, about 70 kilometers (43 miles) east of the city of Erbil, according to the semi-official Tasnim news agency.
Monday’s attack led to the death of one person, AFP reported.
–With assistance from Patrick Sykes, John Follain, Katharina Rosskopf and Kevin Whitelaw.
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