UPDATE - UK sanctions Iranian officials, morality police after at least 95 deaths in Iran protests

UPDATES WITH MORE DETAILS; REVISES HEADLINE, DECK, LEDE

By Ahmet Gurhan Kartal and Gokhan Ergocun

LONDON, ANKARA (AA) - British government said on Monday it has sanctioned some senior Iranian security and political figures as well as the “so-called Morality Police.”

“Mahsa Amini’s death, following her arrest by the Morality Police, has sparked protests across Iran and shocked the world,” a statement from the Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office (FCDO) said.

It said 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.”

“In response, the UK has today sanctioned the Morality Police in its entirety, as well as both its chief Mohammed Rostami Cheshmeh Gachi and the Head of the Tehran Division Haj Ahmed Mirzaei,” the statement said.

The UK also announced sanctions on five leading political and security officials in Iran “for committing serious human rights violations.”

They included Gholamreza Soleimani, the head of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps’ Basij force, Hassan Karami, the Commander of the NAJA Special Forces Unit of the Iranian police and Hossein Ashtari, the Commander-in-chief of the Iranian police, according to the statement.

The statement also alleged that “bodies of protestors killed by security services buried without the families’ knowledge” amid “reports of live ammunition being used against protestors, including when students were blockaded by security forces at the Sharif University earlier this week.”

“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,” Foreign Secretary James Cleverly said.

“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,” Cleverly added.

The death toll from ongoing protests in southern Iran over the death of an Iranian woman in police custody has risen to 95, according to a UK-based activist group on Sunday.

The fatalities occurred in the city of Zahedan in southeastern Sistan-Baluchistan province amid clashes between protesters and security forces since Sept. 30, the Baluch Activists Campaign (BAC) group said in a statement on Telegram.

Around 300 others were also reported to have been injured in the violence.

Iran has for weeks found itself in the midst of mass protests following the death of 22-year-old Mahsa Amini in police custody last month.

Amini died on Sept. 16 under mysterious circumstances after being detained by the morality police in Tehran for allegedly violating the dress code.