In a press statement posted on the department’s Web site, Mrs. Clinton said, “Over the past ten days, we have witnessed the bravery of thousands of Iranians who once again took to the streets to exercise their fundamental rights to peaceful assembly and expression.”
“Security forces have beaten, detained, and – in at least three cases – killed peaceful protesters,” she added.
“We are troubled by reports that, of the dozens of prisoners executed in 2011.”
She called on the regime “to free all political prisoners and persecuted minorities.”
The US Secretary of State also highlighted the regime’s hypocrisy in denying the very rights to the Iranian people that it pretends to champion in other Middle Eastern countries.
She said the regime continues “to deny their citizens access to information by jamming satellite transmissions and blocking internet sites.”
The statement added, “The steady deterioration in human rights conditions in Iran has obliged the international community to speak out time and again. Today, the United States sanctions two Iranian officials – in addition to the eight sanctioned by the President last fall – for perpetrating these abuses.”