TEHRAN- In a new move Canada on Thursday placed restrictions on certain Iranian figures and entities for alleged human rights breaches.

Ottawa said the sanctions applied to 17 individuals, including former Defense Minister Amir Hatami and Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif, and three entities.

Following the death of Mahsa Amini, a young Iranian lady, around mid-September riots erupted in Iran. The 22-year-old fainted inside the police station before being declared dead at the hospital.

The rioters have been rampaging around the country, assaulting security personnel, smashing government property, and defiling sacred places of worship.

The Iranian Intelligence Ministry revealed late last month that Western governments and their media had supported and provoked the rioters by spreading false information and distorting the sequence of events that resulted in the death of Amini even before the official investigation into the incident was complete.

To support the riots and glorify disturbances, experts point out that certain Western and regional governments and their media have been labeling the Iranian security forces' deliberate efforts to quell the unrest as human rights crimes.

Melanie Joly, the Foreign Minister of Canada, charged Tehran with having an alleged “agenda of violence, fear, and propaganda” as she announced the latest penalties.

The protesters “are courageously demanding a future where their human rights will be fully respected,” she claimed.

Since the outset of the protests, the Canadian government has imposed sanctions against the Islamic Republic twice.

Under a similar pretense of "rights abuses," Ottawa implemented sanctions earlier in the month on a wide variety of Iranian institutions and individuals, including a list of 25 people and nine organizations as well as members of the Ministry of Intelligence and the Islamic Revolution Guard Corps (IRGC).