UK Takes Four Deceased Iranians Off Its Sanctions List

Hassan Firoozabadi, who died last year was taken out of a UK sanctions list.
Hassan Firoozabadi, who died last year was taken out of a UK sanctions list.

Britain has removed four dead Iranians from its sanctions list, possibly to help secure the release of two Britons jailed in Iran.

Such listing requires financial and banking institutions to freeze any funds held by the named individuals. A notice released by the United Kingdom Treasury Monday said Hassan Firouzabadi, Hassan Haddad, Ahmad Zargar, and Mohammad Hejazi had been withdrawn from the list of “persons, entities or bodies involved in the commission of serious human rights violations or abuse in Iran.”

Firouzabadi, who died in September, remains sanctioned by both the United States and European Union. Zargar is still listed by the EU, and Hejazi by the US, the EU, and the United Nations. All four were designated in 2011.

Firouzabadi was chief of staff of Iran’s armed forces from 1989 to 2016 before he was appointed a senior advisor to Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei. Hejazi was Khamenei’s intelligence and security advisor. Both were at some time commanders in Iran’s Revolutionary Guard and Basij paramilitary force.

Haddad and Zargar worked as judges and prosecutors in Revolutionary Courts. Haddad ordered a number of those protesting after the disputed 2009 presidential election to be arrested and sent to Kahrizak Detention Center, where prisoners were allegedly torturedandsome died.