TEHRAN, December 15 - Nicaraguan authorities on Friday said they had seized the assets of 10 blacklisted organizations, dealing another blow to civil society after months of protests against President Daniel Ortega that were met with a heavy-handed crackdown.
TEHRAN, Young Journalists Club (YJC) - Nicaraguan lawmakers allied with Ortega banned the 10 non-governmental organizations critical of the government from legal status earlier in the week, blocking them from operating.
The interior ministry said in a statement on Friday their assets will be put into a "fund for the victims of terrorism," without elaborating.
The government had described the people who took part in mass demonstrations against Ortega over some eight months, many of which grew violent, as "terrorists."
One group critical of Ortega, the prominent Nicaraguan Center for Human Rights, or Cenidh, said on Friday that police had taken over its headquarters and that of an affiliated site.
Cenidh estimates that this year's protests left at least 322 people dead and more than 500 people in jail.
Prominent journalist Carlos Fernando Chamorro, the son of former President Violeta Chamorro, said police stormed his offices on Friday after making an initial raid the night before.
Chamorro, a frequent critic of Ortega, runs the digital newspaper Confidencial and hosts television news programs.
He blamed the Thursday raid, when he said police seized his equipment, on increasingly authoritarian efforts to purge the country of domestic dissent.
"This was an absurd attack on free expression," Chamorro told Reuters.
Police seized computers and other equipment after breaking open door locks
Source: Reuters
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