US sanctions Iranian morality police after woman’s death

By FATIMA HUSSEIN
Associated Press

WASHINGTON (AP) — The U.S. government has imposed sanctions on Iran’s morality police after the death in custody of a woman who’d been accused of wearing her Islamic headgear too loosely. Thursday’s sanctions come after at least nine protesters have died in clashes with Iranian security forces since violence erupted over the weekend. The sanctions deny leaders of the morality police and other Iranian agencies access of their properties and bank accounts held in the U.S. The Treasury says the Iranian officials oversee organizations that use violence to suppress peaceful protesters, political dissidents and women’s rights activists. The morality police say the woman violated Iran’s conservative dress code and died of a heart attack.