On March 11, the European Union announced new sanctions against Iranian cyber police, judges, and media officials linked to the death of blogger Sattar Beheshti. Beheshti is “believed to have been tortured to death by the Cyber Police authorities” in November 2012, the E.U. Official Journal said. He was arrested after allegedly criticizing the government. A travel ban was imposed on nine individuals, bringing the total of blacklisted names to 87. The assets of Iran’s Cyber Police unit were also frozen.
The United States and the European Union have increasingly sanctioned individuals for human rights violations since 2010. Human rights sanctions are separate from those related to Iran’s controversial nuclear program. Nearly 500 companies and about 100 individuals are sanctioned by the European Union for connections to the program. The following are excerpts from the E.U. Official Journal on the sanctions, followed by a link to the full text.
