rights abuses. The text here is the State Department’s explanation of why each man was sanctioned.
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Mohammad-Ali Jafari is the commander of the Pasdaran (Revolutionary Guards). As commander, Jafari controlled the Basij Forces during the June 2009 election. Forces under his command participated in beatings, murder, and arbitrary arrests and detentions of peaceful protestors.
Sadeq Mahsuli is currently the Minister of Welfare and Social Security. He was Minister of the Interior at the time of the June 2009 election. As minister of the Interior, Mahsuli had authority over all police forces and Interior Ministry security agents. His forces were responsible for attacks on the dormitories of Tehran University on June 15, 2009, during which students were severely beaten and detained. Detained students were tortured and ill-treated in the basement of the Interior Ministry building; other protestors were severely abused at the Kahrizak Detention Center, which was operated by police under Mahsuli’s control.
Gholam-Hossain Mohseni-Ejai is currently the Prosecutor General of Iran. As the Minister of Intelligence at the time of the June 2009 election, Mohseni-Ejai has confirmed that he authorized confrontations with protesters and their arrests during his tenure as Minister of Intelligence. As a result, protesters were detained without formal charges brought against them and during this detention detainees were subjected to beatings, solitary confinement, and a denial of due process rights at the hands of intelligence officers under the direction of Mohseni-Ejai. In addition, political figures were coerced into making false confessions under unbearable interrogations, which included torture, abuse, blackmail and the threatening of family members.
Saeed Mortazavi is the former Tehran Prosecutor. As Prosecutor, he issued a blanket order used for the detention of hundreds of activists, journalists, and students, and was responsible for sending detainees to the Kahrizak Detention Center, where they were tortured and abused, resulting in several deaths. He was suspended from office in August 2010 after an investigation by the Iranian Judiciary of his role in the death of three men detained on his orders following the election.
Heydar Moslehi has been the Minister of Intelligence since August 2009. Under his leadership, the Ministry of Intelligence has continued the practices of widespread arbitrary detention and persecution of protestors and dissidents. The Ministry of Intelligence continues to run Ward 209 of Evin Prison, where many activists are being held for their peaceful activities in opposition to the ruling government; interrogators from the Ministry of Intelligence have subjected prisoners in Ward 209 to beatings, mental abuse, and sexual abuse. In recent months, prisoners in Ward 209 have reported forced confessions and interference by the Ministry of Intelligence in the judicial process; one detainee from the ward was executed after a forced confession and another was executed when torture failed to yield a confession. As the Minister of Intelligence, Moslehi bears responsibility for the ongoing abuses.
Mostafa Mohammad-Najjar was appointed deputy commander of the Armed Forces in charge of Police Forces in order to “ensure order and security” in November 2009. He was in charge of the government response to protests on Ashura, one of the holiest days in Shia Islam, which in 2009 coincided with December 27. State media reported 37 dead and hundreds arrested. He is currently the Minister of Interior and, as such, has authority over all police forces, Interior Ministry security agents, and plainclothes agents.
Ahmad-Reza Radan has been the Deputy Chief of Iran’s National Police since 2008. As Deputy Chief, Radan was responsible for beatings, murder and arbitrary arrests and detentions against protestors who were committed by the police forces. In addition, several detainees taken to Kahrizak Detention Center, the detention center where at least three protestors lost their lives after being subject to abuses, have alleged that Radan was present in Kahrizak and personally participated in the beatings and ill-treatment of detainees.
Hossain Taeb is currently the Deputy Pasdar Commander for Intelligence. As commander of the paramilitary Basij Forces at the time of the June 2009 election, forces under Taeb’s command participated in beatings, extrajudicial killings and arbitrary arrests and detentions of peaceful protestors and other political activists.
