On Monday 14 April, the Council of the EU adopted sanctions against seven individuals and two entities “responsible for serious human rights violations in Iran”, in particular in connection with the arbitrary detention of foreign citizens. Some twenty Europeans are concerned, according to Reuters, citing European diplomats.
The Shiraz Central Prison, where “several hostages from European countries have been unlawfully detained”, and the 1st Chamber of the Shiraz Revolutionary Court have been sanctioned, as have Mohammad Khosravani, the Special Prosecutor of the Shiraz Revolutionary Court, Sayyed Sadati, a judge at the Shiraz Revolutionary Court, and Kamran Zareh, a judge at the Shiraz Court of Appeal.
In addition, Abbasali Howzan, judge at the 36th chamber of the Tehran provincial court of appeal, and the Tehran prosecutor, Ali Salehi, are subject to measures. The same applies to the director of Evin prison, Hedayatollah Farzadi, and the head of the protection and intelligence service at Fars prison, Mehdi Nemati.
“The conditions in which some French compatriots and Europeans are being detained are disgraceful and amount under international law to torture, and some of them are deprived of consular protection”, denounced French Minister Jean Noël Barrot on his arrival at the EU Council, announcing that France would lodge a complaint with the International Court of Justice for violation of consular protection. Mr Barrot explained that at the previous EU Council, in March, he had called on his counterparts to adopt sanctions.
The restrictive measures now apply to 232 individuals and 44 entities.
The French Minister also welcomed the discussions between the United States and Iran, but warned that France, Germany and the United Kingdom would be “vigilant (...) to ensure that any negotiations that may take place are consistent with our security interests with regard to Iran’s nuclear programme, which poses a significant threat to French and European territory”. For her part, the High Representative of the Union, Kaja Kallas, stressed that this discussion was a “step in the right direction”, because “we do not want to see nuclear weapons developed by Iran”.
To see the Official Journal of the EU: https://aeur.eu/f/gey (Original version in French by Camille-Cerise Gessant)