US targets Iran's prosecutor general, military officials with new sanctions
The US Treasury Department also designated a company manufacturing riot gear for Iran's law enforcement.
The Biden administration on Wednesday unveiled new sanctions on Iranian officials, including the senior official overseeing the prosecution of protesters, as the nationwide anti-government demonstrations in Iran continue into their fourth month.
The US Treasury Department designated Iran’s prosecutor general, Mohammad Jafar Montazeri, who in late September reportedly directed Iran’s courts to issue harsh sentences to those arrested during the protests.
According to the department, Montazeri “oversees prosecutions and the enforcement of criminal judgments throughout Iran, including such actions brought in Iran’s Revolutionary Courts, the primary venue for charging those arrested in the protests.”
Iran has begun carrying out the death sentence for prisoners jailed amid the unrest. Iranian authorities have publicly executed two prisoners arrested in connection with the protests and sentenced at least a dozen more to death, according to activists.
