The State Department designated Arnoldo Aleman, a former president of Nicaragua, due to his involvement in “significant corruption,” it said Nov. 9. The agency also designated several of Aleman’s family members: Maria Fernanda Flores Lanzas de Aleman, Maria Dolores Aleman Cardenal, Maria Alejandra Aleman Cardenal and Carlos Miguel Aleman Cardenal. The State Department said Arnoldo Aleman misappropriated millions of dollars in public funds to benefit himself and his family while he held the office of president from 1997 to 2002. “While this designation is based on acts during his time in office, Aleman’s corruption continues to reverberate in Nicaragua today,” Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said.

China’s Foreign Ministry criticized the U.S.’s Nov. 9 decision to sanction four more Hong Kong officials (see 2011090044), saying the U.S. has “blatantly meddled in Hong Kong affairs.” Hong Kong “is part of China and its affairs are entirely China's internal affairs which allow no foreign interference,” a ministry spokesperson said during a Nov. 10 news conference, according to a transcript the ministry released. “China urges the US side to immediately stop meddling in Hong Kong affairs, immediately lift the so-called sanctions and refrain from going further down the wrong path.” The last time the U.S. designated Hong Kong officials, China retaliated by sanctioning U.S. lawmakers and other U.S. citizens (see 2008100023).

The Office of Foreign Assets Control sanctioned four people and six companies that helped procure U.S.-origin electronics components and other “sensitive” goods for an Iranian military firm, the agency said Nov. 10. OFAC said the network of people and companies helped ship the items to Iran Communication Industries, which produces military communications systems, electronic warfare items, missile launchers and other goods for Iran.

The United Kingdom’s Office of Financial Sanctions Implementation amended and added sanctions entries related to Belarus, Syria and Turkey. OFSI on Nov. 9 amended two entries under its Turkey sanctions regime: Mehmet Ferruh Akalin and Ali Coscun Namoglu. The U.K. also added 12 government officials and amended three entries under its Belarus sanctions regime, and added eight entries to its Syria regime.

The Office of Foreign Assets Control sanctioned 17 Syrian and Lebanese people and entities for operating in Syria’s oil industry and supporting the Bashar al-Assad’s regime oil production network, according to a Nov. 9 press release. The sanctions target Syrian military officials, members of Syria’s Parliament, Syrian government entities and both Syrian and Lebanese people trying to “revive Syria’s deteriorating petroleum industry,” OFAC said.

The European Union renewed its sanctions regime against Turkey’s illegal drilling activities in the Mediterranean for one year, a Nov. 6 notice said. The regime, extended until Nov. 12, 2021, currently targets two people.

The Office of Foreign Assets Control sanctioned a member of Lebanon’s Parliament for corruption, the agency said Nov. 6. The designation targets Gibran Bassil, president of the Free Patriotic Movement political party. OFAC said Bassil has held several “high-level” positions in the Lebanese government and has been “marked by significant allegations of corruption.”

The United Kingdom’s Office of Financial Sanctions Implementation renewed two designations under its terrorism and terrorist financing sanctions list, a Nov. 4 notice said. The U.K. renewed sanctions against the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine and the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine-General Command.

The State Department removed certain sanctions from an Islamic organization in western China, it said in a notice released Nov 4. The move revoked the designation of the Eastern Turkistan Islamic Movement as a “terrorist organization” under the Immigration and Nationality Act.

More than 70 countries voiced their support for the International Criminal Court, criticizing U.S. sanctions against the body. They are “undeterred by any measures or threats against the Court, its officials and those cooperating with it,” the nations said in a Nov. 2 statement. Signers include France, the United Kingdom, Japan and Germany.