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Added on the 20/02/2020 16:52:52 - Copyright : AFPTV - First images
The US government imposes sanctions on an Iranian government minister and senior law enforcement and military officials over human rights abuses. "We have reason to believe that he [Abdolreza Rahmani Fazli] is the individual who gave orders in November 2019 authorizing Iranian police forces to use lethal force on peaceful protesters," says Secretary of State Mike Pompeo. SOUNDBITE
British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak says the UK has sanctioned officials running the Arctic penal colony where Russian opposition figure and critic of President Vladmir Putin Alexei Navalny died, saying Britian and its allies were considering "all options to hold Russia and Putin to account". "He died for a cause to which he dedicated his whole life - freedom - and to return home knowing that Putin had already tried to have him killed is one of the most courageous acts of our time," he tells members of parliament. SOUNDBITE
The United States announces sanctions against four Nicaraguan officials who support President Daniel Ortega, including the president's daughter, accusing the regime of undermining democracy and abusing human rights. SOUNDBITE
The EU's diplomacy chief Josep Borrell says the bloc imposed sanctions on 10 Myanmar junta officials and two conglomerates linked to the military over the coup and bloody crackdown on protesters. SOUNDBITE
State Department spokesman Ned Price says the United States is imposing sanctions on Russian officials after US intelligence concluded that Moscow orchestrated the near fatal poisoning of jailed Kremlin critic Alexei Navalny. SOUNDBITE