The United Kingdom's Office of Financial Sanctions Implementation amended the listing for Anwar Ahmed Khan under its Global Human Rights sanctions regime, in a July 16 update. Khan, a Pakistani national and former senior superintendent of police in Pakistan's Malir District, was “responsible for numerous staged police encounters in which hundreds of individuals were extra-judicially killed by police,” his listing says.
The EU General Court annulled the sanctions listing of Xavier Antonio Moreno Reyes, the secretary general of the National Electoral Council of Venezuela, in a July 14 ruling. The court dropped the sanctions designation after finding that the European Council had not established that the reasons for his listing were "well founded." The sanctions listing was not well-founded since the council did not show that Moreno Reyes approved the decisions of the National Electoral Council.
Sanctions and export control enforcement in the United Kingdom has increased significantly in the past year as the country emphasizes more investigative work and higher penalties, said Tristan Grimmer, a compliance lawyer in Baker McKenzie’s London office.
More than 15 Senate Republicans introduced a bill July 15 that would impose human rights sanctions on Iranian Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei and incoming President Ebrahim Raisi. The legislation would require the president to impose sanctions under the Global Magnitsky Human Rights Accountability Act. Those introducing the bill include Foreign Relations Committee members, among them Sens. Marco Rubio of Florida and Todd Young of Indiana. The U.S. already imposes certain sanctions against Khamenei (see 1906240046).
The Office of Foreign Assets Control published previously expired Ukraine-related general licenses to provide their full texts. Released July 16, the notices include Ukraine-Related Web General License 12, 14 and their “subsequent iterations.”
President Joe Biden said he has no immediate plans to reverse Trump-era sanctions on Cuba, including restrictions on sending remittances to the island, because the Cuban government likely would intercept the money. “I would not do that now because the fact is it’s highly likely that the regime would confiscate those remittances or big chunks of it,” Biden told reporters July 15. The Treasury's Office of Foreign Assets Control in October amended the Cuban Assets Control Regulations to further deny the Cuban government’s access to remittance-related funds (see 2010230024).
The U.S. released an advisory to highlight the sanctions and export controls risks for companies doing business in Hong Kong and announced a new set of Hong Kong designations July 16. The advisory, issued by the State, Treasury, Commerce and Homeland Security departments, describes “considerations” for businesses operating in “this new legal landscape,” which includes several sanctions regimes targeting Beijing and Hong Kong.
The Bureau of Industry and Security added six Russian entities to the Entity List for activities that threaten U.S. national security and foreign policy, the agency said in notice. The entities operate in Russia’s technology sector and support the country’s intelligence services, BIS said. The Treasury Department sanctioned all six companies in February under President Joe Biden’s executive order that targeted Russia’s defense and technology sectors and its attempts to influence foreign elections (see 2104150019). BIS also corrected one existing Russian entry on the Entity List. The rule is effective July 19.
A bipartisan group of senators urged President Joe Biden to consider sanctions if Turkey continues to interfere in Cyprus' territory. The U.S. should work with the European Union to “make clear” that Turkey’s continued attempts to develop the Varosha coastline will be met with multilateral sanctions, the senators said in a July 14 letter. “The U.S. and the EU should make clear to President [Recep Tayyip] Erdogan that continuing to violate [United Nations Security Council] Resolutions and the rule of law is unacceptable,” said the senators, headed by Senate Foreign Relations Committee Chairman Bob Menendez, D-N.J.
The U.S. should impose sanctions against Russia for the Kremlin’s efforts to shelter cybercriminals responsible for a recent wave of ransomware attacks, Senate Foreign Relations Committee Chair Bob Menendez, D-N.J., said. In a July 13 letter, Menendez urged the State Department to use the Countering America’s Adversaries Through Sanctions Act provisions to impose penalties on the Russian government. “[W]ithout significant pressure from the United States and its allies,” Menendez said, “the Kremlin is unlikely to curb the cybercriminals it currently shelters.” The State Department declined to comment.