The United States has announced new sanctions on 14 Iranian individuals, including the former director of Iran's notorious Evin prison. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo issued orders prohibiting 14 Iranian officials and their families from entering the country. The officials are accused of being involved in human-rights violations. The ban applies to 13 unnamed persons implicated in a 1990 assassination attempt in Switzerland, he said, plus the director of Iran's notorious Evin Prison, Hojatollah Khodaei Souri. Souri has overseen the torture and other cruel, inhumane or degrading treatment of political prisoners, he added. Pompeo would not specify whether the individuals were already in the country or had tried to enter, or whether they had participated in any recent incidents, but he said the action was linked to the commemoration on Aug. 21 of the annual Day of Remembrance of and Tribute to the Victims of Terrorism. Evin prison, located in northwestern Tehran, is notorious for cruel and prolonged torture, using methods such as threats of execution or rape, sleep deprivation, electroshock, and severe beatings. The first prisoners entered Evin in 1971 under the rule of Shah Mohammad Reza Pahlavi. Now it is used as the primary detention center for the Iranian regime's political dissidents. "Evin Prison has been used to oppress peaceful Iranian protesters and journalists, as well as foreigners who are swept up and imprisoned to be held hostage to squeeze concessions out of their home governments," the State Department said. "The United States will not stand for the Iranian regime silencing its critics through violence and terror," it added. — Agencies
