EU Targets Two More Iranian Ministers Over Protest Crackdown

The European Union has imposed sanctions on the culture and education ministers, along with 30 other officials, for their involvement in the bloody suppression of protesters.

The EU announced on February 20 that it is imposing asset freezes and travel bans on Education Minister Yousef Nouri and Mohammad Mehdi Esmaili, the Minister of Culture and Guidance, due to their involvement “in serious human rights violations in Iran.”

Those targeted also include lawmakers, high-ranking officials from the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps and two Iranian entities.

This is the fifth round of sanctions the bloc has imposed on Iranian officials and organizations since anti-government protests erupted across Iran in the middle of September.

In total, 196 Iranian individuals and 33 entities have so far been targeted.

The authorities have cracked down hard on the demonstrations triggered by the death of a 22-year-old woman, Mahsa Amini, in the custody of morality police.

Security forces have killed more than 520 people and detained over 19,000 since the demonstrations began, activists say. Following biased trials, the judiciary has handed down stiff sentences, including the death penalty, to protesters.

The protest movement represents one of the most serious challenges to the theocracy installed by the 1979 Islamic Revolution.