Categories: World

US sanctions people around the world over human rights abuses, including Afghanistan, China, Iran

close Video

Fox News Flash top headlines for December 8

Fox News Flash top headlines are here. Check out what’s clicking on Foxnews.com.

The United States Treasury Department announced sanctions on people around the world, including officials in Afghanistan, China and Iran, who have committed or contributed to human rights abuses.

In a statement, the Department of the Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) said it had imposed sanctions on 20 people in nine countries, including two Iranian spies, members of Afghanistan’s ruling Taliban government, and Chinese security officials.

“Our commitment to upholding and defending human rights is sacrosanct,” said Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen. “Abuses of human rights and fundamental freedoms — wherever they occur in the world — strike at the heart of our shared humanity and our collective conscience.”

She added: “Treasury’s targeted sanctions announced today and over the past year underscore the seriousness of our commitment to promoting accountability for human rights abuse and safeguarding the U.S. financial system from those who commit these egregious acts.”

TREASURY ANNOUNCES COUNTER-FENTANYL STRIKE FORCE, LED BY ANTI-TERRORISM OFFICE, TO FIGHT SPREAD OF DEADLY DRUG

The United States Treasury Department announced sanctions on people around the world, including officials in Afghanistan, China and Iran. (RODRIGO OROPEZA/AFP via Getty Images)

Friday’s announcement came ahead of Human Rights Day on Sunday, the 75th Anniversary of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights (UDHR).

The Treasury sanctioned two members of the Taliban — Fariduddin Mahmood and Khalid Hanafi — over their links to the repression of women and girls in Afghanistan.

“Since August 2021, the Taliban has implemented expansive policies of targeted discrimination against women and girls that impede their enjoyment of a wide range of rights, including those related to education, employment, peaceful assembly, and movement, among others,” OFAC said.

Officially, the Taliban have banned women and girls from attending secondary school. (AFP via Getty Images)

GOP LAWMAKER PRESSES TREASURY ON DONATION CASHFLOW BETWEEN PRO-PALESTINIAN CHARITIES AND HAMAS

Mahmood was identified as a member of the Taliban’s “cabinet” that made decisions to close education centers for women and girls. Hanafi, Taliban’s “Minister” for the so-called “Ministry for the Propagation of Virtue and Prevention of Vice,” has “engaged in serious human rights abuse, including killings, abductions, whippings, and beatings.”

The Treasury sanctioned two Chinese officials, Gao Qi and Hu Lianhe, over their links to serious human rights abuses against the Uyghurs, ethnic Kazakhs and Kyrgyz — members of other Muslim minority groups in Xinjiang.

The Treasury sanctioned two Chinese officials, Gao Qi and Hu Lianhe, over their links to serious human rights abuses against the Uyghurs in Xinjiang. (VCG/VCG via Getty Images)

OFAR also sanctioned two Iranian intelligence officials — Majid Dastjani Farahani and Mohammad Mahdi Khanpour Ardestani — who Washington said recruited people to conduct operations in the U.S., including the lethal targeting of current and former U.S. government officials.

CLICK HERE TO GET THE FOX NEWS APP 

The sanctioned individuals also included: two Central African Republic nationals; three individuals from Congo; four criminal gang leaders in Haiti; Liberian mayor Jefferson Koijee; two county commissioners and a governor in South Sudan; and the Commissioner General of Uganda prisons.

The Treasury said that over the last year it has imposed sanctions on more than 150 individuals. (MANDEL NGAN/AFP via Getty Images)

The Treasury said that over the last year it has imposed sanctions on more than 150 individuals relating to human rights violations.

Reuters contributed to this report.

Share

Recent Posts

Violent Venezuelan gang Tren de Aragua terrorizing Americans in at least 19 states

close Video Tren de Aragua suspects arrested in Bronx, New York Fox News correspondent CB…

1 hour ago

Scott Peterson arrest months after Laci disappeared Christmas Eve may have been strategic: former homicide cop

close Video Murder suspect Brad Simpson appears in court Brad Simpson appeared in a San…

1 hour ago

Fall of Assad, rise of Trump: Why 2024 was a very bad year for Iran

The fall of Syria’s Bashar al-Assad was the crescendo of a remarkably bad year for…

2 hours ago

Six household appliances that have taken heat from Biden’s crackdown on regulations

The Biden administration has made tightening efficiency standards for household appliances a target as he's…

2 hours ago

Trump names several new White House picks to work on AI, crypto and more: ‘America First Patriots’

President-elect Donald Trump unleashed a slew of nominations on Sunday night, naming several new people…

8 hours ago

Trump nominates Callista Gingrich as U.S. ambassador to Switzerland, announces other picks

President-elect Trump on Sunday named Callista Gingrich, wife to former Speaker of the House Newt…

8 hours ago