Iran’s Charitable Organizations Are Not Spared from Regime Repression; Another Member of a Student Aid Organization Arrested
Nearly 80 days after the arrest of Sharmin Mimandinežad, founder of Imam Ali Student Aid Society, reports indicate the arrest of Zahra Rahimi Khameneh, his wife and CEO of the organization.
The non-governmental organization announced in its user account that Zahra Rahimi Khameneh, the CEO of the organization, was arrested on Sunday, September 7, after appearing at the prosecutor’s office and after undergoing interrogation and being informed of charges, with the issuance of a bail guarantee.
Based on information released by some human rights news agencies, a bail amount of 500 million tomans was issued for Ms. Rahimi. However, due to Ms. Rahimi’s inability to pay the bail amount, she was arrested and transferred to Evin Prison.
Saied Dehghan, a lawyer, responding to Ms. Rahimi’s arrest on Twitter, said: “Her mistake was adhering to the organization’s structure, following up on the health status of the organization’s founder and her husband, and announcing the distress of their young daughter in the absence of her father! So the bail guarantee should have been issued at the end of administrative hours so that it would not be possible to provide it.”
The arrest of this charitable organization’s CEO occurs as 79 days have passed since the arrest of Sharmin Mimandinežad, founder of this society and husband of Ms. Rahimi, on June 21 of the current year, as well as Morteza Ki Manesh, the organization’s media officer, and Katayoun Afrazeh, the organization’s deputy inspector.
Previously, Voice of America announced in a Twitter post that Katayoun Afrazeh and Morteza Ki Manesh were released after one month of detention by posting bail.
The treatment of this organization and the arrest of the founder of this society, which operated with government permission in Iran, has triggered international reactions.
Robert Destro, U.S. Deputy Secretary of State for Democracy and Human Rights, previously considered assistance to orphans, the homeless, and the needy as “the latest cases of national security crimes that Iranians are imprisoned for on charges of committing in coronavirus-era prisons,” and said: “Sharmin Mimandinežad, founder of the Imam Ali Society, is imprisoned for helping the needy. Is this justice?”
Analysts have repeatedly stated that in Iran’s Islamic Republic, no organization can remain active without regime approval, and the Imam Ali Student Aid Society is no exception to this rule. According to analysts, for this reason, the arrest of the founder and two members of this society cannot be classified as crimes related to human rights violations.
The U.S. State Department has repeatedly condemned the issuance of unjust sentences against civil activists under various pretexts, as well as the repeated and continuous violation of Iranian citizens’ rights by regime agents.
Source: Voice of America
