Iran's morality police and Russians involved in the attempted assassination of former opposition leader Alexei Navalny are among those facing new sanctions imposed by the Australian government.
Foreign Minister Penny Wong announced in a statement on Saturday that sanctions were being imposed on 13 individuals and two entities for "egregious human rights violations and abuses".
Among those being targeted were Iranian paramilitary group the Basij Resistance Force and six individuals who participated in the bloody crackdown on protests following the death of Mahsa Amini while in the care of Iran's morality police.
"The Iranian regime's flagrant and widespread disregard for the human rights of its own people has appalled Australians, and the perpetrators must be held accountable," Senator Wong wrote in an opinion piece published by the Sydney Morning Herald on Saturday.
The sanctions list also includes a number of Russian nationals involved in the poisoning of Kremlin critic Alexei Navalny.
In addition to human rights sanctions, targeted financial sanctions were also imposed on three Iranian individuals and one business involved in the supply of drones to Russia for use against Ukraine.
"The listings demonstrate the Australian government's commitment to take clear action to assert our values, and to hold perpetrators of serious human rights violations and abuses to account," Senator Wong and Tim Watts, the assistant foreign minister, said in a joint statement.
"Australia stands with the people of Ukraine and with the people of Iran.
"We employ every strategy at our disposal towards upholding human rights — ranging from dialogue and diplomacy to sanctions — consistent with our values and our interests."
'Wind beneath the wings of Iranian protesters'
The move follows weeks of calls from human rights groups for Australia to join a growing list of countries — including the US, Canada and the UK, along with the EU — who have already imposed sanctions on Iran during three months of protests that have so far left over 470 people dead, according to human rights activists.
The sanctions include Australian travel bans and the freezing of assets.
Behnam Ben Taleblu, a senior fellow at the Foundation for Defense of Democracies (FDD) said the collective impact of international sanctions could affect "Iran's calculus and decision making".
"In this instance, it's not about members of the morality police per se travelling to Australia, as much as it is the Australian government's recognising, naming and shaming the oppressors of the Iranian people," Mr Taleblu told the ABC.
"So in this sense, what these penalties can achieve, most practically in the short term is to put wind beneath the wings of Iranian protesters who have been bravely risking life and limb and who remain on the streets [after] almost three months now."
Mr Taleblu said the Iranian people were facing intimidation, arrest, torture, and "quite literally brute force on the streets".
Over the past five years, street protests in Iran have evolved from calls for reform triggered by economic, social and environmental issues, to calls for regime change, he said.
While sanctions alone would not achieve a change in government, Mr Taleblu said, they did show Iranian people that foreign governments were paying attention.
"This is just a sign that their plight is heard, and foreign governments are doing what they can to hold their oppressors accountable," he said.
"It's at least the recognition that the government of Australia is not afraid to put a name to the apparatus of repression.
"How this moves forward in the future depends on a lot more moving variables."
Magnitsky-style sanctions
The new sanctions mark just the second time Magnitsky-style sanctions have been used since the federal government gained the powers a year ago.
Magnitsky legislation allows the government to sanction foreign individuals who have committed human rights abuses or been involved in significant corruption.
The laws — named after Russian lawyer Sergei Magnitsky, who died after being refused medical treatment in a Russian prison in 2009 — allow the government to revoke visas, ban travel and seize property from individuals who might try to hide assets in Australia.
"Mr Magnitsky’s case inspired an international movement of sanctions laws to hold those responsible for his death to account, and to enable sanctions to be applied to other perpetrators of serious human rights violations and abuses, wherever they occur in the world," former foreign minister Marise Payne said earlier this year.
Mr Taleblu said Magnitsky legislation was "politically very symbolic".
"I still think that the West is pulling its punches," he said.
"But the greater this cascade and the more stratified the targeting, the greater the potential for it to, if not change Iranian behaviour, at least punish bad behaviour."
Protesters say more help is needed
In Perth, hundreds gathered at a park before taking to the streets to march in support of Iranian people.
Flags flew above the crowd, chants of "woman, life, freedom" rung out in between speeches from community members in Northbridge's Russell Square.
Organiser Nellie Zoughi said the announcement of new Australian sanctions was welcome, but more help was needed.
"I want to tell the world that our problem is not morality police — we need the regime gone," she said.
"We can't have our normal day-to-day life that you have here, we can't work under the blue sky as we do here, if the regime stays in Iran."
Thousands turned out at a rally in Sydney to show solidarity with protesters in Iran, and demand regime change.
Belmore Park was a sea of green, red and white Iranian flags, with protesters chanting "stop executions in Iran".
A row of eight protesters led the group holding nooses around their necks, a reference to executions the government is carrying out in the wake of protests.
"Say her name! Say her name! Mahsa Amini," they chanted.
Roads in the CBD became gridlocked as the group made its way to Hyde Park, where speeches will be made
