Iran sanctions 11 Americans for violating US encampment student rights
4 Min Read
The majority of the list includes US police officers and police chiefs in states that witnessed crackdowns on encampments.
-
Students gather at a pro-Palestinian student encampment on the campus of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Friday, May 3, 2024, in Cambridge, Mass. (AP)
The Islamic Republic of Iran's Ministry of Foreign Affairs named 11 Americans for their complicity in the violation of human rights through the crackdown on peaceful protests by American academics and students in the solidarity encampments on US campuses.
They referenced the law on “Countering the Violation of Human Rights and Adventurous and Terrorist Activities of the United States in the Region" (2017) and Article 5 of the law.
The officials named are as follows:
1. William Billy Hitchens, commissioner of the Department of Public Safety of Georgia
2. Eddie Grier, commanding officer over Field Operations of Georgia
3. Linda J. Stump-Kurnick, chief of the University of Florida Police Department
4. Pamela A. Smith, chief of the Metropolitan Police Department of the District of Columbia
5. Jeffery Carroll, executive assistant chief, Metropolitan Police Department
6. Karl Jacobson, chief of New Haven Police Department
7. Shane Streepy, assistant chief of University of Texas Police Department (UTPD)
8. Michael Cox, commissioner of the Boston Police Department
9. Scott Dunning, The Indiana University Police Department Central Division chief
10. Michael Thompson, The Arizona State University Police chief
11. John Brockie, chief of Police at CAL State Long Beach Police Department
Under Articles 6, 7, and 8 of the sixth Section of the Law, the individuals in question shall be subject to the sanctions outlined in the law, which include the prohibition of visa issuance and entry into the territory of the Islamic Republic of Iran, the blocking of assets within the jurisdiction of the Islamic Republic of Iran, and the blocking of accounts and transactions in the Iranian financial and banking systems.
In compliance with the laws, all relevant national organizations and institutions of the Islamic Republic of Iran will undertake the required steps to ensure that the sanctions are implemented as effectively as possible.
'The right side of history'
Back in May, the leader of the Islamic Revolution and the Islamic Republic of Iran Sayyed Ali Khamenei addressed pro-Palestine student protesters in the United States in a letter hailing their efforts and declaring them a "branch of the Resistance Front."
Amid a surge of solidarity with Palestine following "Israel's" brutal genocide in Gaza, American students have caused a nationwide uproar by demonstrating, calling for the end of the Israeli occupation, the halt of US complicity in the genocide, and recognized decades-long false narratives.
Read next: Sanaa offers to accommodate students expelled from US universities
Sayyed Khamenei began his letter by acknowledging the students' efforts, extending his empathy and solidarity, and praising them for standing on the right side of history, as the current is shifting.
He then described their struggle as an "honorable" one against the US government, which openly and proudly defends and backs the Israeli occupation.
Even the late Foreign Minister Hossein Amir-Abdollahian expressed deep concerns back in April over the police crackdown on pro-Palestine demonstrations in US universities.
Student protests and movements were increasingly gaining momentum, and hundreds of arrests were made as police tried to thwart their efforts to push for an end to US sponsorship of the Gaza genocide.
Not only were students arrested and severely beaten up by law enforcers, but the government also mobilized to introduce legislation that would ultimately punish those participating under the pretext that such forms of resistance are "antisemitic".
