“The bill effectively sounds the death knell for civil society in Iran,” said Hassiba Haji Sahraoui, Amnesty Inter-national’s deputy director for the Near East and North Africa.
Most people in the West consider non-governmental organizations (NGOs) as the main building blocks of civil society and of democracy. Without private organizations, only government organizations can function and advocate policies and programs.
AI said the bill pending before the Majlis has been analyzed by Arseh Sevom, an Iranian NGO based in the Netherlands. AI said the bill requires all NGOs in Iran to register with a new and unaccountable body linked to the Intelligence Ministry and to the Basij militia, with both the ministry and the Basij required to approve any registration.
AI said the bill will give the registration authority the power to control funding of NGOs and also a veto over who sits on an organization’s board of directors. All contact with foreign organizations would be forbidden without the prior approval of the registration organization.
Sahraoui said, “This bill will set back civil society and represent yet another nail in the coffin of the right to freedom of association in the country.”
Sahraoui said parts of the bill have already been approved by the Majlis.