TEHRAN (FNA)- Iranian Foreign Ministry Spokeswoman Marziyeh Afkham underscored that the Alavi Charity Fund has nothing to do with the Iranian government, and described the US court's verdict to confiscate the Alavi Fund's properties unwise and politically tainted.


The Iranian spokeswoman stressed that the recently issued verdict by a court in the US on confiscation of properties, belonging to the Alavi Charity Fund, is based on fake documents, and thus lacks credibility and value.

She further added that the verdict breaches even the US commitment to respect and safeguard religious freedom of its own citizens.

The Foreign Ministry spokesperson reiterated that Iran, itself, is a victim of terrorism and the baseless claims on Iran's involvement in supporting terrorism are fabricated and worthless.

"In some cases the US courts have even breached the international law, for instance, Washington accused the Iranian government to support the al-Qaeda group in creation of the 9/11 events, which is not only ridiculous, but also shows the US's full lack of attention to the most primitive rules of justice and plain truth about which even the most illiterate individuals, too, are quite aware," she said.

Afkham said that the issuance of a court verdict in accordance with anti-Iranian political propagations along with confiscation order against the properties of a charity fund that has absolutely no relation with the Iranian government raises questions on the credibility of the US judiciary system.

She referred to a bill which was ratified by the Iranian Parliament in reaction to the US Congress Foreign Sovereign Immunity Act, known as the Flatow Amendment, and the antagonist acts of the US courts against Iran.

She added that the Iranian parliament's bill allows the Iranian citizens to file law suits against the US criminal acts in the Iranian courts of justice.

Afkham added that the basic difference of the law suits filed by the Iranians against the United States is that they are based on the real crimes committed by the Americans, not on baseless and undocumented claims.

She went on to say that throughout the past 30 years several law suits have been filed against the New York branch of Alavi Charity Fund and similar centers, and the in initial courts have issued similar verdicts, but in the appeals courts they had been annulled.

The New York Alavi Fund which works in accordance with the US laws in charity field is engaged in religious affairs and promotion of the Persian language in addition to its charity activities.

The Muslim and Iranian populatio in New York said the court decision to confiscate the Fund's properties, and even its mosque and cultural centers on phony pretexts deprives a huge population of US Muslims of their legal religious rights in accordance with the international human rights, as well as the US civil rights.

The Alavi Fund's 36-story tower on Manhattan's Fifth Avenue has well known neighbors, like Rockefeller Center and St. Patrick's Cathedral.

It has upscale tenants, such as a Godiva Chocolate Store.

The Manhattan tower was built in the 1970s by the Pahlavi Foundation, a non-profit run by the then-shah of Iran. Federal court rulings concluded it's now owned by the Alavi Foundation since the 1979 revolution that ousted the shah.

The tower generated an estimated $228.2 mln in rent payments between 1996 and 2008, court records show.

By Fars News Agency

 

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