Hezbollah condemns new US sanctions on Iranian media organizations

By Al Mayadeen English
Source: Agencies
16 Sep 2023 17:46
2 Shares

Hezbollah says the US administration and its followers falsely claim freedom of expression, thought, and belief, as long as it is consistent with their interests.

A drone carrying a Hezbollah flag (AFP)

Hezbollah condemned on Friday the US administration's imposition of fresh sanctions on Iranian media organizations, a number of their officials, and their staff.

In a statement, the Lebanese party's Media Relations Department indicated that the US administration and its followers around the world falsely claim freedom of expression, thought, and belief, as long as it is consistent with their interests, policies, and beliefs.

In fact, they [the US administration and its followers] stifle the freedom of expression of everyone who opposes them by all means, especially by sanctions; this reveals the falsity of their policy and their false claims about freedom, equality, and equal opportunities, the statement read.

Hezbollah considered that the true meaning of the sanctions imposed on thinkers, writers, journalists, and media institutions around the world is recognition of failure in intellectual confrontation and the inability to convince the world of the Western cultural model based on control and hegemony.

Elsewhere, Hezbollah declared its full solidarity with all institutions and individuals who were affected by the unjust sanctions, adding that it stands by their side and supports their media role in confronting aggression and occupation, supporting resistance and liberation movements, as well as the right of peoples, especially the peoples of the region, to freedom and independence.

Although the United States reportedly advocates for the freedom of the press, three state-sponsored news outlets were among a long list of individuals and entities targeted in the latest sanctions by the US Treasury Department for their alleged "suppression" of anti-Iran protests a year ago.

The sanctions were coordinated with the United Kingdom, Canada, Australia, and other partners, a release issued by the Treasury noted.

According to the release, the sanctions target key members of Iran's Islamic Revolution Guard Corps (IRCG) and Law Enforcement Forces (LEF); the head of the Prisons Organization; three individuals and one company allegedly involved in assisting with censorship and blocking of internet access; three IRGC and government-sponsored media outlets - Fars News, Tasnim News, and Press TV - and three senior media officials.

The sanctions also target Tasnim’s CEO Majid Gholizadeh, Tasnim’s head of the board of directors Hamidreza Moghadam Far, and Fars CEO Payam Tirandaz, the release indicated.

The Treasury Department also sanctioned Iran’s Prisons Organization head Gholamali Mohammadi.

Also sanctioned are Alireza Abedinejad, CEO of Douran Software Technologies, and Amer Najafianpour and Soheila Kasaei, the chair and vice-chair of Douran’s board of directors, the release added.

Elsewhere, the US Department of the Treasury sanctioned the company Yaftar Pazhohan Pishtaz Rayanesh for allegedly working with the Iranian government to block VPN addresses and design and implement tools to crawl through leading search engines to censor video and textual content, as per the release.

It is noteworthy that this is the thirteenth package of sanctions imposed by the Office of Foreign Assets Control of the US Treasury Department against Iran and Iranian officials since the Western-backed, funded riots that followed the death of 22-year-old Mahsa Amini.

Anti-Iran rioters claim Amini died after she was beaten under police custody for an alleged breach of the country's dress code for women. However, Iran's Legal Medicine Organization has confirmed that her cause of death was from complications she endured as a result of a craniopharyngioma surgery at the age of eight.