UK places sanctions on Iran's morality police after crackdown on protests

While protests are not new in Iran, it is the size and fervour of the current movement which some believe makes it unlike anything the country has seen before. ITV News Correspondent Rachel Younger reports

The UK has imposed sanctions on Iran’s morality police and other senior security officials amid widespread protests in the country and accusations of human rights violations and the repression of women and girls.

Thousands of Iranians have taken to the streets in protests sparked by the death of 22-year-old Mahsa Amini, who had been detained by police in the capital, Tehran, for allegedly not adhering to Iran’s strict Islamic dress code.

The Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office (FCDO) announced on Monday that it has sanctioned the Iranian regime’s so-called morality police “in its entirety”, as well as five leading political and security officials in Iran for “committing serious human rights violations”.

Foreign Secretary James Cleverly said: “The UK stands with the people of Iran who are bravely calling for accountability from their government and for their fundamental human rights to be respected.“

"These sanctions send a clear message to the Iranian authorities – we will hold you to account for your repression of women and girls, and for the shocking violence you have inflicted on your own people.”

The sanctions are intended to ensure that the individuals listed cannot travel to the UK, and that any of their assets held in the UK, or by UK persons anywhere, will be frozen.

“For decades the morality police have used the threat of detention and violence to control what Iranian women wear and how they behave in public,” the FCDO said.

The government also cited what it described as reports of live ammunition being used against protesters, and the bodies of demonstrators killed by security services being buried without their families’ knowledge.