The United States and Britain announced on Friday the imposition of sanctions on Iranian officials on the first anniversary of protests that erupted after the death of the young woman Mahsa Amini while she was detained in a security headquarters in Tehran, while witnesses and human rights activists spoke about the deployment of security forces in Amini's hometown in the Kurdistan region of Iran.
The US Treasury Department announced that it had sanctioned 29 Iranian individuals and entities for their involvement in suppressing protests that erupted in mid-September last year and lasted several months and killed about 500 people, according to rights groups.
The ministry said the new sanctions list included 18 members of the Revolutionary Guards, law enforcement authorities, the head of the prison service and officials involved in blocking the internet and some Iranian media.
Brian Nelson, the U.S. Treasury undersecretary for terrorism and finance tracking, said in a statement that the United States, Britain, Canada, Australia and other allies and partners will continue to take action against those responsible for cracking down on Iranians.
On the first anniversary of the death of young Iranian woman Mahsa Amini, US President Joe Biden said the US would support Iranians and announced new sanctions against "grossly human rights violators".
Biden said in a statement released by the White House: "Only Iranians will decide the fate of their country, but the United States remains committed to standing by them."
Britain announced today that it has imposed sanctions on Iranian officials, saying these sanctions target what it described as prominent Iranian decision-makers responsible for developing and enforcing the compulsory hijab law.
British Foreign Secretary James Cleverly said the sanctions "send a clear message that the UK and its partners will continue to stand with Iranian women and expose Iran's oppression of its own people."
The new British sanctions specifically target Culture Minister Mohammad Mehdi Esmaili and his deputy Mohammad Hashemi, Tehran Mayor Alireza Zakani and Iranian police spokesman Saeed Montazer al-Mahdi.
During last year's protests, Washington, London and the European Union imposed various sanctions on Tehran, which responded with counter-sanctions.
Mahsa Amini died in custody at the ethics police headquarters in Tehran, and her family said she was beaten to death in custody, while Iranian police denied this and said she died of a heart attack.
Security deployment
Meanwhile, Reuters quoted a witness as saying that Iranian security forces were heavily deployed in the city of Saqqez in the Kurdistan region (west), the birthplace of Mahsa Amini, in anticipation of protests on the first anniversary of her death on Saturday.
Another witness told the agency that a number of protesters took to the streets in the city of Saqez, saying they chanted anti-government slogans before quickly dispersing.
The Norwegian-based human rights organization Henghao reported that authorities have installed new surveillance cameras in the city of Saqqez.
The organization also spoke of an atmosphere of intimidation imposed by the authorities in Kurdish cities in western Iran, noting that a number of people have been arrested in recent days.
Netblocks, which monitors restrictions imposed by some countries on the Internet, reported that the southern city of Zahedan had seen network disruption in anticipation of demonstrations.
Last month, Amnesty International said the Iranian authorities were "arbitrarily arresting and detaining family members of victims, imposing severe restrictions on peaceful gatherings in cemeteries and destroying victims' gravestones".
Last year's demonstrations originated in the Kurdistan region and swept several Iranian cities, with hundreds prosecuted and people convicted of crimes committed during the demonstrations executed to death.
Iranian leaders have described the protests as the largest of their kind in years as a conspiracy orchestrated by forces hostile to their country, led by Israel and the United States.