Australia imposes new sanctions on Iran over human rights concerns

SYDNEY – Australia is imposing new sanctions on Iranian officials on the second anniversary of the imprisonment and death of Mahsa Jina Amini.

The 22-year-old Kurdish-Iranian woman was arrested in September 2022 for “inappropriately” wearing her hijab.

Australian Foreign Minister Penny Wong said on Monday that Australia stood in solidarity “with Iranian women and girls in their struggle for equality and empowerment”.

Wong announced financial sanctions and travel bans on senior security and law enforcement officials allegedly involved in the “violent suppression” of protests in Iran.

She said the human rights situation in Iran was “dire” as women activists continued to be detained and sentenced to death.

Wong told the Australian Broadcasting Corp. that abuses by Iranian authorities have continued since Amini’s death two years ago.

“We have sanctioned five Iranian security and law enforcement officials who have been involved in these so-called law enforcement activities, which ultimately constitute a repression – a violent repression – of the Iranian people,” Wong said.

Nikita White, a campaigner for Amnesty International Australia, a human rights organisation, told local media on Monday that the human rights situation in Iran has deteriorated rapidly.

“Those executed are being executed after terribly unfair trials,” White said. She added that there had been reports of torture and ill-treatment.

Australia has now imposed sanctions on nearly 200 individuals and organizations with links to Iran, including those associated with the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps. Canada listed the country as a terrorist group earlier this year, following a similar move by the United States in 2019.

In Canberra on Monday, opposition MP and shadow foreign affairs spokesman Simon Birmingham urged the Australian government to list the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps as a terrorist organisation.

Earlier this month, Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi called sanctions announced by Britain, France and Germany “economic terrorism.”

Araghchi rejected US allegations that Tehran sent ballistic missiles to Russia to help it in its war against Ukraine.