US Banks Acting Beyond Iran-Sanctions Laws

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Samira Afzali: US-Iran Sanctions: Civil Rights, Guilt by Association and Outsourcing of Enforcement from JJ On the Road on Vimeo.

One of the apparent unintentional side effects of US sanctions against Iran has been the closure of  accounts held by Iranian citizens at American banks. Unintentional, rather than deliberate. Iranians have generally believed that the banks' actions have been specifically carrying out demands within laws passed by Congress. That does not seem to be the case, however.

In Minneapolis I met several Iranian students attending the University of Minnesota. They said they had faced many difficulties since their bank accounts had been closed. These students are particularly vulnerable because they have no family here and their relatives back home can do little to help.

But help is coming from lawyers who have looked into the banks' practices and see no legal grounds. Samira Afzali, an attorney based in Minneapolis, is convinced that no law prohibits Iranians from having accounts at US banks. According to one student at University of Minnesota, Afzali is engaging the local TCF bank on behalf of several students in order to restore their accounts.

Afzali spoke about issues facing Iranians and Iranian-Americans since 9/11 in her talk at a University of Minnesota seminar marking the 50th anniversary of the civil rights movement, titled "US-Iran Sanctions: Civil Rights, Guilt by Association, and the Outsourcing of Enforcement".

According to Afzali banks have gone much further than what the law requires in dealing with Iranians and Iranian-Americans in order to avoid any potential fines by the US government. They have not only blocked and closed accounts held by Iranian citizens, but have also installed a mechanism that prevents any transaction that includes the word "Iran", even, as it is often the case, it has nothing to do with the Islamic Republic or its affiliates. Even traveling to Iran can cause complications.

The banks' actions have taken place in an environment where "unpopular" immigrants, such as those from the Middle east, and Muslims in particular, get singled out and treated as suspects purely based on their nationality and faith. Sending "angry lawyer" letters tends to make banks soften their position regarding Iranian bank account holders, although non-citizens still have a harder time than citizens, Afzali said.

"What I would really like to bring home is that foreign policy which we think is something that is out there and happens beyond our borders does actually complicate our notions of citizenship," she said. "When you have immigrant communities that belong to ethnic groups that are highly unpopular, their origin dictates their rights before their citizenship does."

Such treatment brings back memories of the interment of Japanese American during World War II and actions against Chinese immigrants earlier at the turn of the century, which were based on fear and suspicion, not fact. Obviously what's happening today is not as drastic or widespread, but the premiss is the same.

One example mentioned by Afzali was the case of a US-based human rights group made-up of Iranian Americans. They were raising funds through Indiegogo.com and PayPal in order to organize protests against Mahmoud Ahmadinejad during his visit to the UN last year. But their account was blocked because there were automatic concerns that the funds would be sent to Iran. The funds were eventually released after discussions and assurances but it was already too late for the intended purpose.

"I think the bigger problem is that after September 11, as a society we have become more okay with normalizing racial profiling and ethnic profiling. We see it as an effective law-enforcement tool. And in the case of Iranian-Americans, with the Iran sanctions regime, what we are seeing is that it's not necessarily law-enforcement that is doing this, but it's financial institutions who are carrying the burden or are at the forefront of enforcing the Iran sanctions regime."