Iranian Government Preparing Final Assault on NGO’s

In a speech to Iranian provincial governors, the country’s minister of intelligence Heidar Moslehi isolated NGOs as having the largest role in creating the post-election turmoil in the country saying some 80 organizations, institutes and foundations had been identified in this regard. He classified the goals of these organizations in these words, “to change the behavior of government officials and the public, regime change and the disintegration of the regime from within.”

Moslehi said that the leaders of what he called the “ploy” pursued four goals: “create a destructive atmosphere, change public opinion, disseminate the idea of fraud in elections, and engage in civil disobedience.”

The minister also claimed that, “one of the institutions (active against the government) had set a side a budget of $1.7 billion for its goals.” And while Moslehi said that the “very powerful dominance of the ministry of intelligence” had failed the accomplishment of the goals of the ploy on November 4 and December 7th this year, he did not comment on the massive public turnout on these days and their protests. And boasting the reach of his ministry, Moslehi said, “The ministry of intelligence monitors the movement of the perpetrators of the ploy to Western countries and particularly the UK.”

This is not the first time that officials from Ahmadinejad’s administration have make accusations against civil institutions. In the aftermath of the June 2009 presidential elections, some government authorities confronted some NGOs the most prominent of which was the Association for the Defense of Prisoners’ Rights and the Association of Iranian Journalists (Anjome Senfie Ruznamenegaran Iran). Prior to that, the Center for the Defense of Human Rights too had been shut and its offices sealed off.