Welfare Organization Transfers the Endowed Blind Center of Khazaneh

The account of the 'Campaign for the Disabled' on the social media platform X reported the permanent closure of the Khazaneh Blind Center in southern Tehran by the Welfare Organization. According to this report, the Welfare Organization permanently shut down the 'Khazaneh Welfare Services Complex,' which was an endowed center providing rehabilitation services to the blind and visually impaired, three days after the International Day of the Blind. The Welfare Organization has transferred the building of this center to the private sector; an action that had previously generated controversy when it was made public last year. Accordingly, the 'Khabar Online' website reported on March 1, 2023, that a group of families of blind individuals protested against the Welfare Organization's decision to vacate and transfer the 'Khazaneh Blind Affairs Center' to the private sector in front of the Welfare Organization's headquarters. The 'Ensaf News' website also reacted to the controversies surrounding this event on March 2, 2023, stating that there are two noteworthy questions regarding this center. One of these questions is how the Welfare Organization obtained an eviction order for a center whose land is endowed, non-transferable, and non-sellable, which is set to be vacated and transferred to the private sector on April 22. The report emphasized that the second question is what will happen to the ten thousand blind and visually impaired individuals who have rehabilitation files at the Khazaneh Center and have received training in Braille, operation, Quran, sewing, choir, tasbih, complementary Braille education, orientation, personal and social skills, and everything that is not taught in schools, as well as the thousands of blind children who need the education provided by this center to attend schools and society. Today, in light of the official closure of this center, a campaign has emerged on social media to perhaps prevent the permanent closure of this center. Accordingly, in a letter addressed to the Deputy Minister of Labor, it was stated: 'How is it possible that on the International Day of the Blind, the only specialized and state-run service center that Mr. Khazaneh endowed for the blind has been vacated and halted educational and rehabilitation activities due to unfounded justifications, unnecessary confrontations, and the incompetence of the managers and officials at the time?' Protests by people with disabilities against the non-implementation of the disability law in front of the Judiciary; summons and arrest of disabled individuals; Nasser Sargaran, a blind lawyer, was arrested in Saqqez; individuals with disabilities held a protest in front of the Islamic Republic's presidential office; the death of a disabled child in Tehran; the father filed a complaint due to 'bruising and burn marks'; protests by retirees and people with disabilities in several cities in Iran.