Council tightens EU sanctions against Syrian regime

COUNCIL OF

THE EUROPEAN UNION

EN

Brussels, 23 March 2012

7856/12

PRESSE 121

Council tightens EU sanctions against Syrian regime

Given the Syrian regime's continued use of violence against civilians, the Council today reinforced the EU's restrictive measures once more.

The Council targeted 12 persons associated with the repression or supporting or benefitting from the regime with a ban on entering the EU. The assets of same individuals and of two additional entities will be frozen within the EU. This brings the number of designated persons to 126 and the total of targeted entities to 41.

EU High Representative for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy Catherine Ashton said: "The repression has  reached totally unacceptable levels of violence and must stop immediately. Today's decisions aim to weaken the regime's resources and its ability to conduct its brutal campaign."

The legal acts will be published in the EU Official Journal on 24 March.

This is the thirteenth time that the EU imposes sanctions since the Syrian regime started to violently repress the uprising in 2011. For details on the remaining restrictive measures, see factsheet European Union and Syria.

بيان صحفي من مجلس الاتحاد الأوروبي يعلن الحزمة الثالثة عشرة من العقوبات على سورية، بإضافة 12 شخصًا بينهم أسماء الأسد وأفراد من عائلة الأسد، وكيانين.