© Reuters. FILE PHOTO: British Overseas Secretary James Cleverly speaks throughout an interview with Reuters on the Overseas, Commonwealth and Improvement Workplace in London, Britain, November 22, 2022. REUTERS/Toby Melville
By Andrew MacAskill and William James
LONDON (Reuters) -Britain on Friday introduced sanctions in opposition to 30 individuals worldwide, together with Russian and Iranian officers, concentrating on these it deems accountable for acts of torture, sexual violence, and the violent repression of road protests.
The transfer got here a day after France introduced plans for brand spanking new European Union sanctions in opposition to Iran over human rights abuses in its safety crackdown on fashionable unrest there in addition to its provide of drones to Russia earlier than Moscow’s invasion of Ukraine.
The British authorities stated its sanctions have been coordinated with worldwide companions to mark Worldwide Anti-Corruption Day and World Human Rights Day. They encompassed people concerned in actions together with the torture of prisoners and the mobilisation of troops to rape civilians.
“At this time our sanctions go additional to reveal these behind the heinous violations of our most elementary rights,” Overseas Secretary James Cleverly stated in a press release.
These sanctioned embody Russian Colonel Ramil Rakhmatulovich Ibatullin for his position because the commander of the ninetieth Tank Division, which has been concerned in preventing since Russia’s invasion of Ukraine earlier this 12 months.
The federal government stated there have been a number of allegations made in opposition to serving members of the ninetieth Tank Division, together with the conviction in Ukraine of a senior lieutenant on sexual abuse prices throughout the battle.
Russia, which has stated it’s conducting a “particular army operation” in Ukraine to remove threats to its safety, has denied committing struggle crimes or concentrating on civilians.
Britain additionally sanctioned 10 Iranian officers related to Iran’s jail techniques. This included six individuals linked to the Revolutionary Courts which were accountable for prosecuting protesters with sentences together with the loss of life penalty.
Nationwide protests that erupted after the loss of life in police custody of 22-year-old Kurdish Iranian girl Mahsa Amini on Sept. 16 have posed one of many largest challenges to the Islamic Republic since its institution in 1979.
The British authorities sanctioned Ali Cheharmahali and Gholamreza Ziyayi, former administrators of Evin jail in Tehran, which it stated was a facility infamous for the mistreatment of each Iranian and international detainees.
The international workplace stated the sanctions in opposition to 11 nations throughout seven sanctions regimes have been probably the most that Britain has ever imposed in a single package deal.
Britain additionally sanctioned figures concerned in Myanmar’s army, which it stated have been concerned in committing massacres, torture and rape.
Amongst these sanctioned by Britain have been Myanmar’s Workplace of the Chief of Navy and Safety Affairs, which it stated had been concerned in torture since final 12 months’s army coup, together with rape and sexual violence.
