Sharmin Meymandinejad, the founder of the Imam Ali Popular Students Relief Society (File)


Iran’s Interior Ministry has banned the country’s largest non-government organization, the Imam Ali Popular Students Relief Society.

An order by a Tehran court confirmed the dissolution of the Society last Wednesday.

No specific reason was given for the ban; however, in recent months, leading members of the Society have been arrested, detained, and release on high levels of bail.

The Society, which claims more than 12,000 members, was established in 1999 to address issues of poverty and economic and social justice. In 2010, it was granted consultative status by the UN Economic and Social Council.

Last June, the Society’s Executive Director, Zahra Rahimi, said the Interior Ministry was demanding fundamental changes in internal management. The Ministry said the Society would be disbanded if leaders refused.

Days later, Revolutionary Guards’ intelligence officers arrested the Society’s founder Sharmin Meymandinejad and members colleagues Morteza Kaymanesh and Katayoun Afrazeh.

Meymandinejad was accused of “insulting the Supreme Leader” and Kaymanesh and Afrazeh charged with “acting against national security”. The latter two were released on bail in July, but Meymandinejad was held until October 27 and forced to post a bail of 2 billion tomans (about $475,000).

Rahimi, who is married to Meymandinejad, was seized on September 5 and released three days later on bail of 500 million tomans (about $120,000).