The payment service has recently suspended an account of an Iranian human rights group based in London. In explanation, PayPal cited sanctions placed by the west on the country. This is just another example of how blanket measures can harm ordinary people and activists.

A non-commercial organization called Justice for Iran, which documents human rights violations, discovered that its PayPal account had been suspended. In addition, at least 6 people who donated to Justice for Iran cause were facing similar problem.

The human rights group tried to explain that PayPal’s decision was absolutely wrong. The matter is that sanctions imposed on Tehran over its nuclear program were meant to target the Iranian government rather than ordinary people, particularly the groups that highlight rights abuses.

Nevertheless, the imposed sanctions resulted in unintended consequences on Iranians both at home and abroad. For example, Iran’s banking system is completely cut off from the outside world. This complicated the lives of ordinary people as well, including patients in need of life-saving medicines and students in need of international journals.

Justice for Iran tried to contact PayPal and explain that it has no links to the Iranian government, but thus far it had no success. The account is blocked for more than a month now. In addition, Justice for Iran has not been able to open any bank account in the United Kingdom since it was registered in the country because its name contains the word “Iran”.

In response, PayPal announced that the company was merely obeying regulations of the United States, although Justice for Iran is sure that the decision was based on a misreading of the sanctions policy.