The hasty issuance of the dissolution order of the Imam Ali Community is a clear sign of the involvement of security agencies in the case.
Thursday, March 4, 2020 - After the court held a hearing on the petition to dissolve the Imam Ali Society, a preliminary ruling was issued to dissolve the largest Iranian non-governmental organization. In the first days of this month, the Ministry of Interior of the Islamic Republic of Iran had requested the dissolution of the "Imam Ali Society" in a petition.
The issuance of the dissolution order of the Imam Ali Society, as the largest independent civil society organization and the only Iranian NGO with general consultative status with the United Nations, is evidence of government officials' interference in the activities of independent institutions and organizations in Iran.
The issuance of the dissolution order for the Imam Ali Society, a few months after the arrest and subsequent release of the founder and some managers of this civil society organization on heavy bail, is another sign of the continued strictures and security pressures on this non-governmental organization.
Hadi Ghaemi, director of the Human Rights Campaign in Iran, said: "The order to dissolve the Imam Ali Society is a continuation of a very worrying and systematic government policy that implements the mindset of the security institutions. This policy seeks to eliminate independent and effective organizations from society by creating parallel organizations under its control."
He also said: "In a situation where Iranian society is facing very acute social and economic crises, there is an urgent need for independent non-governmental organizations such as the Imam Ali Society, and eliminating them is a historic mistake on the part of the government and will only exacerbate these crises. Mr. Rouhani won the people's votes by relying on respect for citizen rights, but now his government, along with security institutions, is striking at the roots of civil society."
The Human Rights Campaign in Iran, while condemning the decision to dissolve the Imam Ali Society, calls on the Iranian authorities to stop the process of filing cases against NGOs and non-governmental organizations and to provide the necessary conditions for the activities of these institutions. Previously, Zahra Rahimi, CEO of the Imam Ali Society, announced that the Ministry of Interior had asked their organization to change the statute of the society from a “board of trustees” structure to a “general assembly” structure. If this change does not occur in the structure of the Imam Ali Society, the Ministry of Interior will request the dissolution of this organization.
Earlier, on July 1, 2020, Sharmin Maimandinejad, Morteza Kaymanesh, and Katayoun Afrazeh, three senior members of the Imam Ali Society were arrested following a complaint from the IRGC’s Sarollah Headquarters. At that time, the Imam Ali Society announced in a statement that the arrests were made following a complaint from the “Sarollah Headquarters of the IRGC,” and that Sharmin Maimandinejad, the head of the Imam Ali Society, was charged with “insulting the Leader of the Revolution and the founder of the Islamic Republic,” and that two others were charged with “acting against national security.” Mr. Kaymanesh and Ms. Afrazeh were released on bail after a while; but Sharmin Maimandinejad, the head of the Imam Ali Society, was detained for 129 days. At that time, the Tasnim news agency, which is close to the IRGC, wrote in a short report that a person named “Sh. In recent years, by forming a "charitable institution" and under the guise of "public interest activities such as fighting discrimination and poverty" as well as "human rights issues and social problems", the M.M. has attempted to "build a network to influence various levels of public opinion."
In recent years, the Islamic Republic authorities have used various methods to disrupt the activities of long-standing NGOs. One of the most common of these practices is the creation of seemingly independent parallel organizations alongside civil and popular institutions such as the Imam Ali Society. In recent years, the government’s executive authorities have launched the “Imam Reza Society” as a parallel institution to the Imam Ali Society. The organization is managed by Mohammad Hassan Yekta, former commander of the Baqiyatollah al-Azam Cultural and Social Headquarters of the Revolutionary Guards and a former colleague of the current head of the Iranian judiciary, Ebrahim Raisi, at the Astan Quds Razavi.
The practice of creating parallel institutions by judicial authorities had been seen before; after the establishment of the "Legal Advisors Center" in the judiciary as a parallel institution to the independent "Bar Association". However, the international history and reputation of these civil society institutions in Iran is the main and fundamental distinction of parallel organizations that executive and government decision-makers are trying to give credibility to.
The Imam Ali Student Relief Society is a non-governmental organization that began its activities in 1999. The Imam Ali Society is the largest independent civil society organization in Iran and the only Iranian NGO that was introduced as one of the organizations active in reducing social problems at the international level in 2010 by registering with the United Nations in consultative status and becoming a member of the Economic and Social Council.
Source: Iran Human Rights Campaign
