Washington - (AFP) Washington imposed economic sanctions on Iran 's public prosecutor Wednesday for his role in the violent crackdown on protests, as well as on a number of officials and a company that makes equipment for the country's law enforcement agencies.

The five people targeted by these sanctions are involved in "continuing violence against demonstrators."
The US Treasury Department said in its statement that Iranian Attorney General Mohammad Jaafar Montazeri is "the senior official overseeing the trials of the demonstrators."

"At the end of September, he directed the courts to act 'decisively' and impose harsh penalties on the many people arrested during the demonstrations," the ministry added.

The United States is also targeting him with sanctions for his role in "the use of torture by the Iranian authorities during investigations to extract a confession."

The economic sanctions imposed by Washington mean that his assets in the United States are frozen, and that anyone who makes a financial transaction with him is also subject to the same sanctions.

"We condemn the Iranian regime's escalating use of violence against its own people who are defending their human rights," Treasury Under Secretary for Terrorism and Financial Intelligence Brian Nelson said in the statement.

And at the beginning of December, Mohammad Jaafar Montazeri announced the abolition of the morality police, which was established in 2006 and concerned specifically with the application of wearing the veil.

Iran has been witnessing demonstrations since the death of the young woman, Mahsa Amini, 22, on September 16, three days after she was arrested by the morality police for violating the strict dress code in the Islamic Republic.

Since then, hundreds of people have been killed, thousands arrested and two 23-year-old men executed.