DUSHANBE, July 8, 2016, Asia-Plus – Activities of the branch of the Imam Khomeini Relief Committee (IKRC), Imdad, in Tajikistan have been suspended.

An official source at the Ministry of Justice of Tajikistan says several violations have been revealed in IKRC’s activities in Tajikistan.

Iranian Embassy in Dushanbe has refrained from giving comments on the situation; the Embassy representatives just noted that the Embassy had received a copy of law suit filed by the Ministry of Justice in a court.

Meanwhile, a source at the Ministry of Justice Department for Registration of Public Associations says the Ministry of Justice has sent an official warning to the IKRC’s branch in Tajikistan twice “but they have ignored it.”

The Imam Khomeini Relief Committee has operated in Tajikistan since 1996 and it has reportedly established ten vocational training centers for women in the country over the past twenty years.  Iran’s charity was also providing support to orphanages and centers for people with disabilities and elderly people ad organizing simultaneous weddings for pairs from vulnerable families.  The Committee was also providing assistance to victims of natural disasters in Tajikistan.

The Imam Khomeini Relief Committee, Imdad, was founded in March 1979 as a charity organization to provide support for poor families.  The aim is to help such families regain financial stability. IKRC has also provided support to regions outside of Iran, including Pakistan, Somalia, Afghanistan, Palestine, Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina, Republic of Kosovo, Chechnya, Comoros, Iraq, Tajikistan, Azerbaijan, Syria, Lebanon.

IKRC’s main branch office is located in Nishapur.

IKRC provides multiple ways of support to individuals or families. 

This foundation is reportedly supported by Iranian government and also receives the Islamic taxes of Khums and Zakat, as well as Zakat al-fitr.  Also, the foundation has charity boxes installed all across the country to gather donations.