(REUTERS): The European Union (EU) has imposed sanctions on eight Iranian commanders and police chiefs, including the head of the elite Revolutionary Guards, over a deadly crackdown in November 2019.
The bloc blacklisted Hossein Salami, head of the Revolutionary Guards, the most powerful and heavily armed security force in the Islamic Republic. EU also hit three Iranian prisons with asset freezes.
“Hossein Salami took part in the sessions that resulted in the orders to use lethal force to suppress the November 2019 protests. Hossein Salami therefore bears responsibility for serious human rights violations in Iran,” the EU said.
The three prisons sanctioned included two in the Tehran area where the EU said those detained after the 2019 protests were deliberately wounded with boiling water and denied medical treatment.
The travel bans and asset freezes are the first EU sanctions on Iran for human rights abuses since 2013. Iran, which has repeatedly rejected accusations by the West of human rights abuses, dismissed the EU’s sanctions as “invalid”.
“Iran suspends comprehensive talks with the EU, including human rights talks and all cooperation resulting from these talks,” Iranian media quoted Foreign Ministry spokesman Saeed Khatibzadeh as saying.
About 1,500 people were killed during less than two weeks of unrest that started on Nov. 15, 2019, according to a toll. The United Nations said the total was at least 304.
