US sanctions Tehran Province Prisons Organization and Qassem Soleimani's brother

On Thursday, April 14, the US Treasury Department placed the Tehran Provincial Prisons Directorate and Sohrab Soleimani, the organization's former director, on its sanctions list.

The US Treasury Department says these sanctions were imposed due to the agency's and its former director's involvement in human rights violations in Iran.

White House spokesman Sean Spier also said in his press conference on Thursday, referring to these sanctions, that Sohrab Soleimani is the brother of Qassem Soleimani, the commander of Iran's Quds Force.

The sanctions on Sohrab Soleimani come after he was removed from the management of the Tehran Provincial Prisons Directorate in June 2016 and appointed as the acting deputy for security and law enforcement of this organization. Sohrab Soleimani headed this department for nearly 15 years.

The US Treasury Department says that Sohrab Soleimani was directly responsible for the March 19, 2014, raid on Ward 350 of Evin Prison by security forces and senior officials. More than 30 prisoners were injured in the attack, and some were transferred to solitary confinement.

Sean Spicer also said that the sanctions against these individuals and entities come at a time when many foreigners are imprisoned in Iran. He mentioned in this context Baqer and Siamak Namazi, two Iranian-American citizens.

Baqer and Siamak Namazi, Iranian-American citizens, have each been sentenced to 10 years in prison by the Revolutionary Court on charges of "collaborating with the hostile US government."

The US Treasury Department emphasized in its statement that Washington will continue its sanctions against Iran outside the framework of the JCPOA, in cases of human rights violations, ballistic missiles, terrorism, and regional instability.

Source: Radio Farda