The European Union wants to impose travel bans on Iranian officials involved in cracking down on protesters, according to French Foreign Minister Catherine Colonna.
“France’s action at the heart of the EU… (consists of) targeting those responsible for the crackdown by holding them accountable for their actions.” According to Reuters, reports from SchengenVisaInfo.com, Minister Colonna told lawmakers in Parliament.
Furthermore, the minister added that the bloc plans to freeze assets alongside travel bans.
On September 16, Mahsa Amini, a Kurdish woman from Iran, died after being jailed for allegedly violating rules requiring women to wear both hijab headscarves and modest clothing. Such a situation led to ongoing protests, believed to be the largest in recent memory in the area, with more than 1,000 people arrested to date.
The European Union approved human rights sanctions against Tehran last year. Up to this point, no Iranians have been included on the same list since 2013; However, as the EU has balked at such action, expressing hopes of relaunching a nuclear deal with Iran following the US withdrawal in 2018.
Currently, the EU has a series of sanctions against nearly 90 Iranians that are renewed every April.
The French foreign minister pointed out that the new measures could also target people from the repressive regime who send their children to western countries to live there. In this context, diplomats believe that the measures are likely to be approved at a meeting of EU foreign ministers on October 17.
After Amini’s death, authorities in both the United States and Canada imposed severe sanctions on Iran’s Morality Police over allegations of abuse of Iranian women, adding that they blamed the unit for Amini’s death while in police custody.
In this regard, US President Joe Biden emphasized on Monday that he was “Deeply concerned by reports of increased violence against peaceful protests in Iran, including students and women demanding equal rights and basic human dignity.”
Amini’s death protests quickly turned into anti-regime riots, with most of the young protesters urging an end to the Islamic Republic, freedom for women and equal rights.
In this regard, Iran’s Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei expressed his support for the security forces confronting the protesters inflamed by the death of Amini, while such comments heralded a tougher crackdown on the unrest over two weeks since her death could.