Britain sanctions 30 people, targeting corruption and human rights abuse
Sign up now: Get ST's newsletters delivered to your inbox
British Foreign Secretary James Cleverly states that the sanctions aim to expose those behind the violations of fundamental rights.
PHOTO: REUTERS
Follow topic:
LONDON - Britain on Friday announced sanctions targeting 30 people around the world whom it described as “corrupt political figures, human rights violators and perpetrators of conflict-related sexual violence”.
The move came a day after France announced plans for new European Union sanctions against Iran over human rights abuses in its security crackdown on popular unrest there, as well as its supply of drones to Russia before Moscow’s invasion of Ukraine.
Britain said its sanctions were coordinated with international partners to mark International Anti-Corruption Day and Global Human Rights Day and included individuals involved in activities such as the torture of prisoners and the mobilisation of troops to rape civilians.
“Today, our sanctions go further to expose those behind the heinous violations of our most fundamental rights,” Foreign Secretary James Cleverly said in a statement. They included targets from 11 countries, such as:
- 10 Iranian officials connected to Iran’s judiciary and prisons
- Figures involved in the Myanmar military junta, including Myanmar’s Office of the Chief of Military and Security Affairs
- Russian Colonel Ramil Rakhmatulovich Ibatullin for his role as the commander of the 90th Tank Division
- Mali’s Katiba Macina group, also known as the Macina Liberation Front, over what Britain said were links to sexual violence
- Officials in South Sudan over what Britain said were links to sexual violence.
The government said there have been multiple allegations made against serving members of the 90th Tank Division, including the conviction in Ukraine of a senior lieutenant on sexual abuse charges during the conflict.
Russia, which has said it is conducting a “special military operation” in Ukraine to eliminate threats to its security, has denied committing war crimes or targeting civilians.
Britain also sanctioned 10 Iranian officials connected to Iran’s prison systems. This included six people linked to the Revolutionary Courts that have been responsible for prosecuting protesters with sentences including the death penalty.
Nationwide protests that erupted after the death in police custody of 22-year-old Kurdish Iranian woman Mahsa Amini on Sept 16 have posed one of the biggest challenges to the Islamic Republic since its establishment in 1979.
The British government sanctioned Ali Cheharmahali and Gholamreza Ziyayi, former directors of Evin prison in Tehran, which it said was a facility notorious for the mistreatment of both Iranian and foreign detainees.
The Foreign Office said the sanctions were the most Britain has imposed in one package.
Britain also sanctioned figures involved in Myanmar’s military, which it said were involved in committing massacres, torture and rape.
The military in Myanmar seized power in a coup last year.
Rights activists say the junta is now regularly using the death penalty
More than 16,500 people have been arrested and more than 13,000 of them remain in detention since the coup, according to a human rights organisation that documents violations by the Myanmar military. REUTERS
