BRUSSELS: The European Union (EU) on Tuesday imposed sanctions ahead of International Women’s Day against officials from 6 countries, including Afghanistan and Russia, for violence and rights violations against women.
According to a document seen by AFP, 9 individuals and 3 official entities have been added to bans lists, subject to visa restrictions and the freezing of assets held in the EU.
The sanctions target 2 Moscow police officers, Lieutenant Colonel Alexander Fedorinov and his subordinate Ivan Ryabov, accused of ordering the arrest and torture of women anti-war protesters.
The list also included Russian tank commander Colonel Ramil Ibatullin and special forces commander Major General Nikolai Kuznetsov, whose units are accused of systematic acts of sexual violence and rape in Ukraine.
From Afghanistan, the Taliban minister for the propagation of virtue and the repression of vice Muhammad Khalid Hanafi and the minister for higher education, Neda Mohammad Nadeem, are also listed.
Neda Mohammad is accused of depriving women of education and Hanafi of curbing the freedom of speech and expression of women, and awarding harsh punishments and violence on those who do not follow the Taliban’s edicts.”
Other officials targeted by EU’s sanctions
In South Sudan, Gatluak Nyang Hoth, the commissioner for Mayiandit county, and Koch County commissioner Gordon Koang Biel are said to have made systematic and widespread use of sexual violence as war tactics.”
Myanmar’s deputy minister of home affairs, Toe Ui, has been accused of allowing military security agents to use forced nudity, electro-shocks, burning of genitalia, rape, and widespread violence during the arbitrary detention and interrogation of women, women and members of the LGBTIQ community.
Officials from Iran and Syria are also targeted by sanctions. – AFP
