US government agency: Iran remains a matter of "particular concern" due to gross and systematic violations of religious freedom

The United States Commission on International Religious Freedom published a statement on Wednesday, August 12, listing the names of a number of senior officials of the Islamic Republic regime who have been sanctioned by the US Treasury Department for severe violations of religious freedom in Iran.

The statement states that two successive US administrations over the past ten years, citing the Magnitsky Act and issuing several presidential executive orders, have added individuals who have violated the rights of the Iranian people to practice their religion to the sanctions list.

The statement provides background from several officials close to the Islamic Republic’s leader on this matter, and a brief description of two “infamous death row judges” (referring to Abolghasem Salavati and Mohammad Moghiseh) who have unfairly handed down harsh sentences to Iranian citizens following the peaceful protests of 2009. The statement also names other sanctioned individuals, including Mohammad Mohammadi Golpayegani, Mohsen Rezaei, Ahmad Jannati, and Ayub Soleimani.

This independent, nonpartisan American institution also recommended in its 2020 report to the US State Department to continue to keep Iran as a country of "particular concern" due to its "systematic, ongoing, and egregious violations of religious freedom" of its people.

Source: Voice of America