European Union sanctions morality police and 11 leaders implicated in crackdown

The European Union reacts to the repression in Iran. EU foreign ministers on Monday (October 17th) adopted sanctions against morality police and leaders involved in the crackdown on protests sparked by the death of Mahsa Amini. The sanctions list, published in the Official Journal of the European Union, includes 11 Iranian officials, including the Minister of Information and Communications Technology, Issa Zarepour, and four entities, including the vice squad. They will be subject to a visa ban and an asset freeze by the EU.

This list, approved the previous week by EU ambassadors in Brussels, also includes the head of the Iranian morality police, Mohammad Rostami Cheshmeh Gachi. The term “morals police (…) is not really appropriate when you see the crimes that are committed there”said German Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock in Luxembourg, where the heads of diplomacy of the Twenty-Seven met on Monday.

The list was drawn up before the fire at Evin prison in Tehran which left eight dead and dozens injured. Iranian political prisoners as well as foreigners are held in this establishment, including the Franco-Iranian academic Fariba Adelkhah and the American Siamak Namazi, who are in safety.

At the end of September, the European Union judged “unjustifiable and unacceptable” the use “widespread and disproportionate force” against protesters in Iran after the death of Mahsa Amini, a 22-year-old Iranian Kurd who was detained by the morality police for violating the dress code which notably requires women to wear veils. His death triggered a vast protest movement against the regime.