The Trudeau government has added three entities and 17 individuals associated with the Islamic government of Iran to its sanctions regime, including former foreign affairs minister Mohammad Javad Zarif.
There is also Saeed Mortazavi, the prosecutor of the Iranian revolutionary court who ordered the torture of Iranian-Canadian photojournalist Zahra Kazemi in the early 2000s.
His atrocious conditions of detention led to his death in 2003.
Ottawa is also targeting the editor of the nationalist newspaper Kayhan, “which regularly publishes anti-Semitic propaganda, including Holocaust denial, and threats against Israel, the United States and the Gulf States”, as well as the leader of the Islamic Republic of Iran Broadcasting, Peyman Jebelli.
These sanctions prohibit any financial transaction and freeze the accounts of the persons and entities concerned. They are also prohibited from entering Canadian territory.
“The actions of the Iranian regime speak for themselves; the world has been watching for years as the regime continues its program of violence, fear and propaganda,” Foreign Minister Mélanie Joly said in a statement.
Last Friday, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau announced that half of the personnel of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC), held responsible for the crackdown on protesters.