Canada sanctions Iran morality police as protests flare

Canada on Monday announced sanctions against Iranian officials over the Islamic republic’s lethal crackdown on protests driven by the death of a young woman after her arrest by the morality police.

“We will implement sanctions on dozens of individuals and entities, including Iran’s so-called morality police,” Prime Minister Justin Trudeau told a news conference.

“We join our voices, the voices of all Canadians, to the millions of people around the world demanding that the Iranian government listen to their people, end their repression of freedoms and rights and let women and all Iranians live their lives and express themselves peacefully,” he added.

At the same time, Canada’s foreign minister, Melanie Joly, offered her support to Iranian women at the UN General Assembly, saying in a speech their protests have been “met with arrests and bullets.”

“We salute their courage and join them in sending a strong message that women’s rights are human rights,” Joly said.

More than 1,200 angry demonstrators have been arrested, along with reformist activists and journalists, since the death of Kurdish woman Mahsa Amini in custody 10 days ago, and at least 41 people have died, according to official figures.

State television aired footage of “rioters” on the streets in north and west Tehran as well as “some provinces”, and said they had set fire to public and private property.

Amini, 22 years old, had been accused of breaching Iran’s strict rules on hijab headscarves and modest clothing.