Persecution, sexual violence, and torture… European sanctions against the Taliban and the imprisonment of the Iranian Qarchak prison
The European Union has sanctioned individuals and entities it considers responsible for “sexual violence and violations of women’s rights” in six countries: Afghanistan, Iran, Russia, Syria, South Sudan, and Burma.
“By imposing these sanctions, we are sending a clear message to the perpetrators that they will be punished for their crimes and for committing these horrific and inhuman crimes, and it is also a message to the victims that the European Union will support you wherever you are in the world,” said Dutch Foreign Minister Wopke Hoekstra.
Expand sanctions list
He said the EU “will not hesitate to expand the target list” published in the EU’s official gazette on International Women’s Day.
Punishing the Taliban
According to Voice of America, these individuals and entities will be subject to an EU asset freeze and entry ban, including two Taliban ministers, Minister of Higher Education Nada Mohammad Nadeem, “who is responsible for a large-scale violation of women’s right to education,” and Mohammad Khalid Hanafi, Acting Minister of Advocacy, Guidance, Promotion of Virtue and Prevention of Vice.
Iranian Qarchak Prison
The list also included Iran’s Qarchak Women’s Prison, where detainees are subjected to “sexual assaults by guards” and “are often threatened with rape to extract confessions,” according to the EU sanctions list.
Syrian Republican Guard
He also accused the Syrian Republican Guard of “using sexual and gender-based violence to oppress and intimidate detainees, especially women and girls,” according to the list.
Russian Police
Moscow police official Alexander Fedorinov and one of his aides, Ivan Ryabov, were also listed on charges of “arbitrary detention and torture of anti-war protesters”, as well as two senior Russian military officials, Nikolai Kouznetsov and Ramil Ibatulin, who are accused of “sexual violence and rape crimes committed by men under their orders in Ukraine in March and April 2022.”
South Sudanese Militias
The EU sanctions also included two pro-government militia leaders in South Sudan, Gatluak Nyang Huth and Gordon Kwang Pyle, after they were accused of “systematic use of sexual violence as a method of warfare”.
Burma crimes
Burmese Deputy Interior Minister Tui Wei was also on the sanctions list; For his part, a former official in the country’s detention centers, one of three entities also sanctioned, is accused of allowing security personnel under his authority to use “forced nudity, rape, electric shocks, excessive violence in arbitrary detention and brutally interrogating men and women.”
