March 12, 2013 |Today the Foreign Affairs Council of the European Union announced its decision to blacklist more Iranian officials for “violations of human rights”.
According to the Official Journal of the European Union during their meeting yesterday, the Council of European Union decided to add two officials of Press TV, two judges in charge of Arab-Ahwazi cases, the head of Evin prison, two judicial figures in Sari and Shiraz in charge of Baha’is cases, head of the Commission to Determine the Instances of Criminal Content, as well as the Islamic Republic’s Cyber Crime Office to their previous list of those allegedly charged with violations of human rights of citizens in Iran.
Justice for Iran (JFI), which mandate includes restoration of rights of Iranian citizens and removing the culture of impunity prevalent among Islamic Republic officials, welcomes EU’s announcement. JFI’s recent reports on human rights violations committed against the Arab-Ahwazi and Baha’i Iranians as well as its earlier report on crimes commited by Press TV included names of Islamic Republic figures responsible for these violations, including eight of the nine figures who were included in EU’s list announced today. They are: Ali Ashraf Rashidi Aghdam, Morteza Kiasati, Seyed Mohammad Bagher Mousavi, Seyed Reza Mousavi Tabar, Mohammad Sarafraz, Assadollah Jafari, Hamid Reza Emadi, and Abdolsamad Khoramabadi.
Shadi Sadr, the Co-Founder of JFI said: “The Islamic Republic is party to the International Bill of Rights and that implies all Iranian citizens are entitled to their human rights. Any individual holding an official position implicated in issuing directives, overseeing processes and implementing measures that violate the articles enshrined in the International Bill of Rights can and must be held accountable for their actions.”
JFI looks forward to working with European Union, United Nations and other organs whose mandate protects and promotes the human rights of Iranian citizens, and eliminates the culture of impunity that is suffocating the country.
