Holding Iranian Human Rights Abusers Accountable

Remarks
Hillary Rodham Clinton
Secretary of State
Washington, DC
June 9, 2011
In June 2009, the world watched as Iran’s security forces violently suppressed thousands of Iranians who were calling for transparency and accountability in their government. Nearly two years after Iran’s brave citizens took to the streets, the struggle for civil liberties and fundamental rights continues. Today, the United States has sanctioned three Iranian government entities complicit in the ongoing brutal repression – the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, the Basij Resistance Force, and Iran’s Law Enforcement Forces (LEF) – as well as LEF Commander Ismail Ahmadi Moghadam.

While Iran’s leaders hypocritically applaud protesters abroad calling for self-determination, many of Iran’s own citizens -- including founding members of the revolution -- are being held as political prisoners merely for holding views contrary to Iran’s leaders. Iranians are being executed for crimes based on dubious charges and without the due process guaranteed under Iran’s constitution. Religious and ethnic minorities are intimidated and imprisoned, while women’s rights activists, human rights defenders, clerics, and labor leaders are targeted for retribution for seeking human rights for themselves and other Iranian citizens. By barring many of Iran’s most accomplished artists, journalists, and academics from working, and forcing many to flee their homeland, the Iranian government restricts the space where free thought and expression can flourish.

The United States stands with all Iranians who wish for a government that respects their human rights, their dignity and their freedom, and we call on the Iranian government to end its systematic human rights abuses and political hypocrisy. Today’s sanctions reflect our commitment to hold accountable those governments and officials that violate human rights and deprive their citizens of the opportunities and future they deserve.

Department of Treasury and State Announce Sanctions of Iranian Security Forces for Human Rights Abuses

Fact Sheet
Office of the Spokesperson
Washington, DC
June 9, 2011

The Departments of the Treasury and State today imposed sanctions against three entities and one individual at the core of Iran’s security apparatus for being responsible for or complicit in serious human rights abuses in Iran since the June 2009 disputed presidential election. Today’s action targeted Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC), the Basij Resistance Force (Basij), and Iran’s national police and its Chief – all of which share responsibility for the sustained and severe violation of human rights in Iran.

“Today’s action exposes Iran’s willingness to turn the machinery of the state, at its highest levels, against its own people to violently suppress their democratic aspirations,” said Office of Foreign Assets Control Director Adam Szubin. “As long as this denial of basic human rights continues, we will remain vigilant in our efforts to isolate those responsible from the international financial system.”

Today’s action was taken pursuant to Executive Order (E.O.) 13553, signed by President Obama in September 2010, targeting human rights abuses engaged in by officials of the Government of Iran and persons acting on behalf of the Government of Iran since the June 2009 election. As a result of today’s action, any property in the United States or in the possession or control of U.S. persons in which the designees have an interest is blocked, and U.S. persons are prohibited from engaging in transactions with them. The designees, and all members of the designated entities, are also subject to visa sanctions by the Department of State.

State Department Assistant Secretary for Democracy, Human Rights and Labor Michael Posner added, “By designating the IRGC, the Basij and the national police, we demonstrate that law enforcement agencies not only have a responsibility to enforce the law but also live up to universal human rights commitments and Iran’s own constitution.”

The Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps

Formed by Iran’s Ayatollah Khomeini in the aftermath of the 1979 Islamic Revolution, the IRGC was responsible for guarding and preserving the frontiers of the country and safeguarding the nascent revolution. In recent years, however, the IRGC has increased its involvement with internal threats to the regime, suppressing political dissent since the contested June 2009 presidential election.

The IRGC is responsible for the serious human rights abuses that have occurred since the contested June 12, 2009, presidential election, including the violent crackdowns on protests and the mistreatment of political detainees held in a ward of Tehran’s Evin prison controlled by the IRGC.

The Treasury Department previously designated the IRGC pursuant to E.O. 13382 in October 2007, which targets proliferators of weapons of mass destruction (WMD) and their supporters.

The Basij Resistance Force

The Basij is a paramilitary force subordinate to the IRGC. As one of Iran’s primary guarantors of domestic security, the Basij has been heavily involved in the violent crackdowns and serious human rights abuses occurring in Iran since the June 2009 contested presidential election. The Basij have been implicated in attacks on university students, abuse of detainees, and violence against peaceful protesters.

The Basij is also being designated today for being controlled by the IRGC. The United States designated Basij Commander Mohammed Reza Naqdi pursuant to E.O. 13553 in February 2011.

The Law Enforcement Forces (LEF)

Commonly referred to as Iran’s national police, the LEF is one of the Government of Iran’s main security apparatuses for maintaining domestic stability and played a key role in the government crackdown on protesters in the aftermath of the June 2009 election. Under the command of Ismail Ahmadi Moghadam, also designated today, the LEF was involved in the attack on the Tehran University dormitories in Tehran during which more than 100 people were wounded and subsequently transferred to a detention area where they suffered physical abuse at the hands of the LEF.

The LEF operated the notorious Kahrizak detention center, which was the site of serious human rights abuses against prisoners detained in the post-election protests, including assault and battery, and the deprivation of basic needs such as medical care, ultimately resulting in the deaths of three detainees.

Identifying Information:

Entity: Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps
AKA: AGIR
AKA: Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corps
AKA: IRG
AKA: IRGC
AKA: Islamic Revolutionary Corps
AKA: Pasdaran
AKA: Pasdaran-e Enghelab-e Islami
AKA: Pasdaran-e Inqilab
AKA: Revolutionary Guard
AKA: Revolutionary Guards
AKA: Sepah
AKA: Sepah Pasdaran
AKA: Sepah-e Pasdaran-e Enqelab-e Eslami
AKA: The Army of the Guardians of the Islamic Revolution
AKA: The Iranian Revolutionary Guards

Entity: Basij Resistance Force
AKA: Baseej
AKA: Basij
AKA: Basij-e Melli
AKA: Mobilization of the Oppressed Organization
FKA: Sazman Basij Melli
AKA: Sazman-e Moghavemat-e Basij
FKA: Vahed-e Basij-e Mostazafeen
FKA: National Mobilization Organization
AKA: National Resistance Mobilization
AKA: Resistance Mobilization Force

Entity: Law Enforcement Forces of the Islamic Republic of Iran
AKA: Iranian Police
AKA: Iran’s Law Enforcement Forces
AKA: Naja
AKA: Niruyih Intizamiyeh Jumhuriyih Islamiyih Iran

Individual: Moghadam, Ismail Ahmadi
AKA: Ahmadi-Moghaddam, Esma'il
AKA: Ahmadi-Moqaddam, Esma'il
AKA: Moghaddam, Esameel Ahmadi
AKA: Moghaddam, Ismail Ahmadi
DOB: 1961
POB: Tehran, Iran

Plain Speaking From Biden in Moscow Speech

NYtimes

By ELLEN BARRY

Published: March 10, 2011

MOSCOW — Vice President Joseph R. Biden Jr., who two years ago introduced the idea of a thaw between the United States and Russia, used a speech at Moscow State University to criticize Russia’s legal and political systems, a move likely to irritate the country’s leaders.
Russians, he said, “want to be able to choose their national and local leaders in competitive elections. They want to be able to assemble freely, and they want the media to be independent of the state. And they want to live in a country that fights corruption.
“That’s democracy,” he said. “I urge all you students here: Don’t compromise on the basic elements of democracy. You need not make that Faustian bargain.”
The speech came in the face of criticism that what Mr. Biden dubbed a “reset” in relations between Russia and the United States has muted the United States’ voice on human rights violations. Mr. Biden cataloged a series of high-profile cases that he said made investors wary of Russia, including the prosecution of the oil tycoon Mikhail B. Khodorkovsky and the death in detention of Sergei L. Magnitsky.
“Some may say, ‘How can you say these things out loud, Mr. Vice President, and expect to have a better relationship,’ ” he said, prompting a small burst of applause. “They’re necessary to have a good relationship. We should not have to make choices. We will continue to object when we see that human rights are violated or democracy and the rule of law is undermined.”
After cooperating on American priorities, including some in Iran and Afghanistan, Russian leaders have been eager to shift to economic ties, like ventures with Western technology companies. Mr. Biden discussed two near-term payoffs in his visit: Russia’s accession to the World Trade Organization and the repeal of the Jackson-Vanik amendment, trade restrictions that were imposed on the Soviet Union in 1974.
But neither of those steps is assured. Congressional Republicans may use a vote on Jackson-Vanik to raise questions about rights in Russia. Meanwhile, in order to join the W.T.O., Russia must secure the agreement of Georgia, which as a member, has veto power.
American officials “were very proactive in encouraging” Russia and Georgia to sit down for Swiss-mediated negotiations in Bern, but are playing no role in the talks, according to a senior administration official who spoke on ground rules of anonymity.
On Thursday, a senior Russian official suggested that Russia might lift its 2006 embargo on Georgian wine, but this is unlikely by itself to win Georgia’s vote.
Sergei A. Markov, a deputy with the governing United Russia party, said the assumption in Moscow was that Washington could dictate Georgia’s position.
“Everyone here is convinced that one call from Joe Biden to Mikheil Saakashvili would be enough,” he said. “We consider that Georgia’s position 100 percent depends on the American White House.”
A larger challenge is setting an agenda that will give momentum to the reset, said Sergei A. Karaganov, a dean of the faculty of international relations at the Higher School of Economics in Moscow. President Obama’s strategy has quieted the anti-American voices in Russia’s politics, he said, much as Mikhail Gorbachev stripped anti-Russian hawks of their enemy in the 1980s.
But early projects, like negotiation of the New Start treaty, have been largely symbolic, he said, staying clear of looming issues like energy policy and development of the Arctic. Meanwhile, he said, Russian leaders are wary that Mr. Obama may last only one term, and that there could be a sharp change in policy.
Mr. Biden is viewed warily in Moscow, in part dating from a 2009 interview he gave to The Wall Street Journal, in which he said Russia faced such economic and demographic decline that it was weak in negotiations with the West. Russia’s state-controlled television paid scant attention to his visit.
Journalists in Russia had speculated about whether Mr. Biden would weigh in on the country’s central political drama — whether President Dmitri A. Medvedev will serve for a second term or be replaced by Prime Minister Vladimir V. Putin, still widely viewed as the country’s paramount leader.
Mr. Biden took pains to devote equal attention to Mr. Medvedev and Mr. Putin. But in his speech, he mentioned Mr. Medvedev seven times and repeatedly cited his words.
“Mr. Medvedev said last week — and I quote him — ‘Freedom cannot be postponed,’ ” he said. “Joe Biden didn’t say that. The president of Russia said that. And when Deputy Premier and Finance Minister Kudrin said that ‘only fair elections can give the authorities the mandate of trust we need to help economic reforms’ — that’s a Russian leader, not an American leader.”