High Commissioner for Human Rights expresses her concern about the threats against founder of Imam Ali’s Popular Students Relief Society
2-August-2020
Category: Prisoners
Breathing in Confinement: On August 1, 2020, Ms. Michel Bachelet, High Commissioner for Human Rights, expressed her concern about the growing pressure on and the threats against the Iranian NGO, and warned against the arrest of its founder.
“Iranian authorities have pressured Imam Ali Popular Students’ Relief Society (IAPSRS) to change its structure, in what appears to be an attempt to close down the organization,” wrote Bachelet.
“Closing by force or altering the structure of an NGO is a severe type of restriction on the right to freedom of association and represents unlawful interference with the critical work of civil society,” wrote Michel Bachelet, the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, on a statement on the government’s growing threats against and pressure on the society.
“The closed space of civil society in Iran is becoming more limited,” Ms. Bacheleh said in the statement. “Imam Ali Student Relief Society has tried to continue its activities in this limited space, despite threats and pressures in recent years.”
“Civic space is already restricted in Iran, and continues to shrink, ” she wrote. “IAPSRS had managed to operate within this restricted space in recent years, albeit under continued threats and harassment,” said Bachelet. She continued: “Vague national security provisions were often used by the authorities to stifle dissenting voices.”
At the end of her statement, the High Commissioner for Human Rights called on the Iranian authorities to allow the Imam Ali Student Relief Society to continue its activities with its existing structure and to stop interfering in decision makimg and programs of this non-governmental organization. She also demanded the immediate release of Mr. Meymandinejad, whose detention is incompatible with international human rights law.
Full text of the statement of the High Commissioner for Human Rights is found here:
https://www.ohchr.org/EN/NewsEvents/Pages/DisplayNews.aspx?NewsID=26141&LangID=E