EU sanctions Iranian individuals accused of targeting dissidents

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BRUSSELS (Reuters) -The EU has imposed sanctions on eight people and one entity responsible for the targeting of Iranian dissidents for assassination on behalf of Iran’s government, the European Council said in a statement on Tuesday.

The sanctions, over what it called “serious human rights violations” and “transnational repression”, included asset freezes and travel bans, the council said.

The Council listed the Zindashti Network, which it said was a criminal group connected to the Iranian Ministry of Intelligence and Security that has carried out numerous acts of transnational repression, including assassinations of Iranian dissidents.

It also included the Zindashti Network’s boss Naji Ibrahim Sharifi-Zindashti – who it said was an Iranian narcotics trafficker and organised crime boss – and some of his associates. Zindashti and his network have previously been sanctioned by the United States.

The Council, the European Union’s governing body, is also targeting Mohammed Ansari, the leader of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps Quds Force Unit 840, who it said ordered the assassination of journalists critical of the Islamic Republic.

It said that the listings confirmed the EU’s concerns about transnational repression by Iranian state bodies through the use of proxy agents, in particular involving criminals and organised crime networks targeting dissidents and human rights defenders across the world, including on EU territory.

(Reporting by Lili Bayer, writing by GV De Clercq, Editing by Charlotte Van Campenhout and Alex Richardson)