Canada slaps new sanctions on Iran over rights abuses
OTTAWA, Canada (AFP) - Canada announced Monday fresh sanctions against Iran, targeting police and judicial officials over what Ottawa described as rights violations at home and abroad -- including a violent crackdown on demonstrations sparked by the death of Mahsa Amini.
The move came after Iranian protesters rallied again over the weekend, defying an order by the powerful Revolutionary Guards to stop demonstrations -- now in their seventh week.
Solidarity marches were also held in cities around the world.
The sanctions list includes Tehran's police commander, the Islamic republic's deputy attorney general and its police force, as well as officials in North Khorasan and Mazandaran provinces.
Al-Mustafa International University was also named, accused of recruiting students into Iran's Quds Force, a group of the Revolutionary Guard's extraterritorial operations branch classified as a terrorist organization by Canada and the United States.
"Canada has reason to believe that these individuals and entities have participated in gross and systematic human rights violations either in Iran or in the regime's malign activities abroad, including by attacking other states," Foreign Minister Melanie Joly said in a statement.
Some of the individuals are accused of having "participated directly" in the "unjust and systematic persecution of Iran's Bahai religious minority," she said.
Ottawa also accused Iran of selling drones to Russia and training soldiers on their use in Ukraine -- which Tehran has denied.
Amini, 22, died in custody on September 16 after her arrest in Tehran for an alleged breach of Iran's strict dress rules for women, triggering a wave of unrest and a state crackdown.
Security forces have struggled to contain the protests, which started with women taking to the streets and burning their hijab headscarves and which have evolved into a broader campaign to end the Islamic republic founded in 1979.
In Ottawa, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and his wife Sophie joined protestors marching on Saturday in support of Iranian women.
Canada has in recent weeks sanctioned Iran's morality police, and permanently denied entry to more than 10,000 Iranian officials, including members of the Revolutionary Guard.
The latest announcement brings to 93 individuals and 179 entities the total number sanctioned in Iran, effectively freezing their assets in Canada and making them inadmissible to this country.
