EU ramps up human rights sanctions against Iranian and Myanmar officials

The EU Council has ramped up human rights sanctions against officials/entities in Iran and Burma. It said it had ‘decided to impose restrictive measures on additional 32 individuals and two entities responsible for serious human rights violations in Iran’ including:

‘The Iranian Minister of Culture and Islamic Guidance and Minister of Education, the deputy commander and spokesperson of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC), the co-founders of EU-listed Ravin Academy, members of the Iranian parliament supporting the violent crackdown, members of the police, judiciary in various parts of the country, and prison wardens and directors,’ and ‘the Law Enforcement Forces (LEF) Cooperation Foundation and the Police Science and Social Studies Institute.’

Targets of Burma-related sanctions include ‘the Minister for Energy, prominent businessmen who have supported the regime’s repression with arms and dual use goods, and high-ranking officers in the Myanmar armed forces that are closely associated with the regime. Also listed are politicians and administrators from the Yangon Region involved in the process of death sentences and execution of four democracy activists in July 2022, and in Kachin State, where they oversaw air strikes, massacres, raids, arson and the use of human shields committed by the military.

‘The listed entities include departments of the Ministry of Defence and a state-owned enterprise under its jurisdiction, as well as private companies supplying fuel, arms and funds to the military.’

https://eur-lex.europa.eu/legal-content/EN/TXT/?uri=OJ:L:2023:051I:TOC