US names 14 sanctioned Iranian ‘human rights violators’

Officials include head of Tehran's Evin Prison and suspects in 1990 Switzerland assassination of Iranian academic

US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo wears a stars and stripes facemask as he departs a meeting with members of the UN Security Council about Iran's alleged non-compliance with a nuclear deal at the UnitShow more

The US has publicly named the 14 Iranian nationals it sanctioned for human rights breaches last Friday.

The US State Department said the people were designated for their involvement in “gross violations of human rights on behalf of the Iranian regime, the world’s leading state sponsor of terrorism”.

The sanctions ban them and their family members from entering the US.

Among them are 13 officials the State Department said were involved in “a brutal and intricately planned assassination” carried out in Switzerland in 1990.

Kazem Rajavi, a prominent Iranian academic and opposition figure, was shot dead in his car in Coppet, a village near Geneva where he lived, in April 1990.

“These 13 individuals, who posed as Iranian diplomats, were acting under the highest orders of their government to silence opposition and show that no one is safe from the Iranian regime, no matter where they live,” the State Department said.

The 13 include Sadegh Baba’ie, Ali Reza Hamadani, Said Danesh, Ali Hadavi, Saeed Hemati, Mohammad Reza Jazayeri, Moshen Esfahani, Ali Moslehiaraghi, Naser Pourmirzai, Mohsen Pourshafiee, Mohammad Rezvani, Mahmoud Sajadian and Yadollah Samadi.

The State Deparment also designated Hojatollah Souri, the director of Iran’s notorious Evin Prison.

“Mr Souri oversaw an institution synonymous with torture and other cruel, inhuman, or degrading treatment or punishment,” the department said.

Tension between Washington and Tehran have heated up since US President Donald Trump in 2018 withdrew from the 2015 nuclear accord signed with world powers and began imposing new sanctions on Iran.

The US moved last Thursday to restore UN sanctions on Iran, including an arms embargo.

It said Tehran had broken the deal it struck with world powers even though Washington abandoned the agreement.