The EU and Britain on Monday imposed sanctions on senior commanders from Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, its Supreme Council of Cultural Revolution and officials accused of having links to the security crackdown on protesters.
The protests began after the death on September 16 of 22-year-old Mahsa Amini following her arrest by the morality police. They have grown into one of the most serious challenges to Iran’s theocracy since the 1979 revolution.
At least 529 people have been killed in demonstrations, according to human rights activists in Iran. More than 19,700 others have been detained by authorities amid a crackdown. Some people linked to the protests have been executed.
The EU said it had imposed asset freezes and travel bans on the eight officials and frozen the assets of the Supreme Council of Cultural Revolution due to its involvement “in serious human rights violations in Iran”.
Europe said the council was “a regime policy body” that “promoted several projects undermining the freedom of girls and women, setting limits on their clothing and education”, adding: “Its decisions have also discriminated against minorities.”
Those placed under sanctions include clerics undermining the freedom of women and girls, such as Ahmad Alam Al Hoda, an imam in the city of Mashhad. He is described by the EU as participating in the “propagation of hate against women, demonstrators and religious minorities”.
Also among them are members of the judiciary responsible for handing down death sentences in unfair trials and for the torturing of convicts. They include Mohammad Sadegh Akbari, chief justice of Mazandaran province, and Musa Asif Al Hosseini, head judge of the first branch of the revolutionary courts of the city of Karaj.
Monday's announcement was the sixth round of sanctions that the 27-nation bloc has imposed on Iranian officials and organisations — including other ministers, military officers and Iran’s morality police — for alleged rights abuses.
The UK Foreign Office in parallel imposed sanctions on senior members of the IRGC, including those who it said were responsible for managing the group's financial investments.
In a statement, the Foreign Office said its measures were aimed at five key financiers within the IRGC and two other senior commanders over gross human rights violations following protests that broke out after the death of Ms Amini late last year.
The sanctions — which include an asset freeze and UK travel ban — were imposed on five members on the board of directors of the IRGC Co-operative Foundation and two senior IRGC commanders operating in Tehran and Alborz provinces.
“Today we are taking action on the senior leaders within the IRGC who are responsible for funnelling money into the regime's brutal repression,” UK Foreign Secretary James Cleverly said.
“Together with our partners around the world, we will continue to stand with the Iranian people as they call for fundamental change in Iran.”
The British government has already placed sanctions on more than a dozen IRGC officials over the clampdown on human rights protests, in which more than 500 people have been killed and tens of thousands imprisoned.
However, the Foreign Office has so far resisted calls to designate the IRGC as a terrorist organisation, fearing this would prompt retaliatory measures by Tehran and put more UK-Iranian dual citizens at risk of being arbitrarily detained.
Iran’s execution of British-Iranian citizen Ali Reza Akbari on spying charges last month further soured diplomatic relations.
The IRGC was set up shortly after the 1979 Islamic Revolution to protect the Shiite clerical ruling system. It has an estimated 125,000-strong military with army, navy and air units, and commands the Basij religious militia often used in crackdowns.
Directed by Sam Mendes
Starring Dean-Charles Chapman, George MacKay, Daniel Mays
4.5/5
The specs: 2019 Aston Martin DBS Superleggera
Price, base: Dh1.2 million
Engine: 5.2-litre twin-turbo V12
Transmission: Eight-speed automatic
Power: 725hp @ 6,500pm
Torque: 900Nm @ 1,800rpm
Fuel economy, combined: 12.3L / 100km (estimate)
KILLING OF QASSEM SULEIMANI
What are the influencer academy modules?
- Mastery of audio-visual content creation.
- Cinematography, shots and movement.
- All aspects of post-production.
- Emerging technologies and VFX with AI and CGI.
- Understanding of marketing objectives and audience engagement.
- Tourism industry knowledge.
- Professional ethics.
COMPANY%20PROFILE
%3Cp%3E%3Cstrong%3EName%3A%20%3C%2Fstrong%3EElmawkaa%3Cbr%3E%3Cstrong%3EBased%3A%3C%2Fstrong%3E%20Hub71%2C%20Abu%20Dhabi%3Cbr%3E%3Cstrong%3EFounders%3A%3C%2Fstrong%3E%20Ebrahem%20Anwar%2C%20Mahmoud%20Habib%20and%20Mohamed%20Thabet%3Cbr%3E%3Cstrong%3ESector%3A%3C%2Fstrong%3E%20PropTech%3Cbr%3E%3Cstrong%3ETotal%20funding%3A%3C%2Fstrong%3E%20%24400%2C000%3Cbr%3E%3Cstrong%3EInvestors%3A%20%3C%2Fstrong%3E500%20Startups%2C%20Flat6Labs%20and%20angel%20investors%3Cbr%3E%3Cstrong%3ENumber%20of%20employees%3A%3C%2Fstrong%3E%2012%3Cbr%3E%3C%2Fp%3E%0A
Know your cyber adversaries
Cryptojacking: Compromises a device or network to mine cryptocurrencies without an organisation's knowledge.
Distributed denial-of-service: Floods systems, servers or networks with information, effectively blocking them.
Man-in-the-middle attack: Intercepts two-way communication to obtain information, spy on participants or alter the outcome.
Malware: Installs itself in a network when a user clicks on a compromised link or email attachment.
Phishing: Aims to secure personal information, such as passwords and credit card numbers.
Ransomware: Encrypts user data, denying access and demands a payment to decrypt it.
Spyware: Collects information without the user's knowledge, which is then passed on to bad actors.
Trojans: Create a backdoor into systems, which becomes a point of entry for an attack.
Viruses: Infect applications in a system and replicate themselves as they go, just like their biological counterparts.
Worms: Send copies of themselves to other users or contacts. They don't attack the system, but they overload it.
Zero-day exploit: Exploits a vulnerability in software before a fix is found.
UAE currency: the story behind the money in your pockets
The distance learning plan
Spring break will be from March 8 - 19
Public school pupils will undergo distance learning from March 22 - April 2. School hours will be 8.30am to 1.30pm
Staff will be trained in distance learning programmes from March 15 - 19
Teaching hours will be 8am to 2pm during distance learning
Pupils will return to school for normal lessons from April 5
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Killing of Qassem Suleimani
The burning issue
The internal combustion engine is facing a watershed moment – major manufacturer Volvo is to stop producing petroleum-powered vehicles by 2021 and countries in Europe, including the UK, have vowed to ban their sale before 2040. The National takes a look at the story of one of the most successful technologies of the last 100 years and how it has impacted life in the UAE.
Read part four: an affection for classic cars lives on
Read part three: the age of the electric vehicle begins
Read part one: how cars came to the UAE
How to apply for a drone permit
- Individuals must register on UAE Drone app or website using their UAE Pass
- Add all their personal details, including name, nationality, passport number, Emiratis ID, email and phone number
- Upload the training certificate from a centre accredited by the GCAA
- Submit their request
What are the regulations?
- Fly it within visual line of sight
- Never over populated areas
- Ensure maximum flying height of 400 feet (122 metres) above ground level is not crossed
- Users must avoid flying over restricted areas listed on the UAE Drone app
- Only fly the drone during the day, and never at night
- Should have a live feed of the drone flight
- Drones must weigh 5 kg or less
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Unresolved crisis
Russia and Ukraine have been locked in a bitter conflict since 2014, when Ukraine’s Kremlin-friendly president was ousted, Moscow annexed Crimea and then backed a separatist insurgency in the east.
Fighting between the Russia-backed rebels and Ukrainian forces has killed more than 14,000 people. In 2015, France and Germany helped broker a peace deal, known as the Minsk agreements, that ended large-scale hostilities but failed to bring a political settlement of the conflict.
The Kremlin has repeatedly accused Kiev of sabotaging the deal, and Ukrainian officials in recent weeks said that implementing it in full would hurt Ukraine.
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DAY%20ONE%20RESULT
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