Federal government announces new sanctions against Iran

Foreign Affairs Minister Mélanie Joly announced Thursday that Canada is adding other Iranian officials and entities to the sanctions list.

The measures will prevent 17 people and three entities from entering Canada or doing business with most Canadian businesses.

Among them is Saeed Mortazavi, the prosecutor who ordered the torture of Zahra Kazemi, an Iranian-Canadian journalist who died in custody in 2003.

Global Affairs Canada said in a press release that the sanctions target Iranian officials who have committed or enabled human rights violations against women, or perpetuated disinformation.

Joly said it was especially important to list Mortazavi.

« My message to the Iranian regime is that we have not forgotten and we will never forget, and that is why we are imposing these new sanctions, » Joly said in an interview Thursday morning from Seoul, South Korea.

The list also includes Mohammad Javad Zarif, Iran’s foreign minister from 2013 to 2021 (whose Canadian groups had demanded to be sanctioned), Peyman Jebelli, the head of the state broadcaster, and Hossein Shariatmadari, the news editor. head of the state newspaper. Kayhan controlled newspaper. Joly’s office accuses the newspaper of regularly publishing anti-Semitic propaganda, Holocaust denial and threats against Canada’s allies.

A senior prisons official, Gholamreza Ziaei, is listed, as is senior government adviser Ali Larijani. A commander of Iran’s southwestern police force, Manouchehr Amanollahi, is also on the list.

Those on the list will have their assets held by Canadians frozen as Ottawa tries to implement a new law to seize those assets and distribute them to victims and human rights defenders.

The new sanctions come on top of the 25 people and nine entities the government sanctioned last week.

Later Thursday, ministers will share more details on the series of sanctions announced last Friday, which seek to ban high-ranking members of Iran’s Revolutionary Guard Corps from entering Canada for life.

The move followed growing pressure from conservatives and members of the Iranian diaspora in Canada to list the entire organization as a terrorist group.