By Fariba Raad | 2025-04-27

The European Union (EU) has imposed new sanctions against Islamic Republic officials and entities for "serious human rights violations" and the systematic imprisonment of European citizens, the EU Council announced April 14.

The 27-member bloc has blacklisted three judges, two prosecutors and two prison officials, including Evin Prison director Hedayatollah Farzadi and Fars Prisons Protection and Intelligence Department head Mehdi Nemati.

The measures apply to Shiraz Central Prison, where several European citizens have been unlawfully detained and denied fair trials.

They also were imposed on the First Branch of the Revolutionary Court of Shiraz in Fars province for conducting "unjust trials and executions of political dissidents and persecution of individuals from minority communities."

"It’s high time because the conditions in which some of our French and European compatriots are being detained are disgraceful and comparable to torture under international law," said French Foreign Minister Jean-Noël Barrot.

He criticized Tehran's "state policy" of hostage-taking, the Associated Press reported.

France is preparing a complaint against the Islamic Republic at the International Court of Justice over the prolonged detention of Cécile Kohler and Jacques Paris.

The French nationals have been held in Tehran's Evin Prison since May 2022 without consular access.

'State-sponsored extortion'

In recent years, the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) has arrested foreign nationals on unsubstantiated charges of espionage and threats to national security, transforming visitors into diplomatic bargaining chips.

"This isn't defiance. It's business," said journalist and war correspondent Ardavan Roozbeh. "The Islamic Republic doesn't take hostages simply to antagonize the West -- it does so because the returns are tangible."

"Tehran turns dual nationals, aid workers and academics into bargaining chips for cash, concessions or both."

The Islamic Republic's hostage-taking has serious implications for the safety of foreign tourists who enter Iran on valid visas, security analysts told Pishtaz.

The arbitrary detention of foreign nationals demonstrates that Iran remains unsafe for international visitors, as travelers risk becoming pawns in the regime's political games, they said.

Hostages frequently face prolonged solitary confinement, denial of medical treatment and coerced confessions -- all while the Islamic Republic paradoxically promotes itself as a cultural destination, according to the analysts.

The same judicial and prison systems that detain foreigners also oversee the repression of domestic dissent, including torture and forced confessions.

"Iran currently has no incentive to abandon its practice of hostage diplomacy," said research analyst Janatan Sayeh of the Foundation for Defense of Democracies.

"To demonstrate its commitment to protecting its own citizens from state-sponsored extortion, the EU must also designate the IRGC as a terrorist organization for its role in this reprehensible practice," he added.