US Imposes Sanctions on 2 More Iranian Officials For Human Rights Violations

Last week, the U.S. Treasury and State Departments announced the designation of two additional Iranian officials as being responsible for or complicit in serious human rights abuses in Iran since June 2009.  The designation results in freezing assets of the officials, barring transactions with them by U.S. persons and the imposition of visa sanctions.  The two-- Abbas Jafari Dolatabadi, Tehran Prosecutor General, and Mohammed Reza Naqdi, commander of the IRGC’s Basij Forces-- join 8 others named in an executive order issued last September. (Background.)  One of the two added yesterday-- Mohammad Naqdi-- was identified by the U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom in its annual report issued last year as being responsible for particularly severe violations of religious freedom.  In a release last week, USCIRF welcomed the action taken by State and Treasury.