WASHINGTON: The US Justice Department plans to sell a 36-storey glass office tower in Manhattan, New York, owned by a non-profitPersian and Islamic cultural centre.

Iran has criticised the move as a violation of international and US laws protecting religious freedom.

A document filed in a New York court earlier this week showed that the Department of Justice planned to distribute proceeds from the sale of the Fifth Avenue high-rise to families affected by alleged Iranian-aided attacks, including the 1983 bombing of the US marine barracks in Beirut.

The 36-storey building, seized by the US Justice Department, belongs to Alavi Foundation, a non-profit organisation that teaches the Persian language and Islamic culture.

In Tehran, Iran’s foreign ministry spokeswoman Marzieh Afkham said the decision “lacks legal justification and negates America’s commitment to protecting its citizens’ religious freedom”.

“Confiscation of the properties of an independent charity organisation raises doubt about the credibility of US justice,” she was quoted as saying by the official IRNA news agency.

In a 2009 lawsuit, the Manhattan US attorney’s office claimed the Alavi Foundation was controlled by Iran, citing the two minority owners, Assa Corp and Assa Co Ltd, as companies financed by Iran’s national Bank Melli.

Last year, a US federal court ruled that the skyscraper was subject to government forfeiture for “shielding and concealing Iranian assets” in violation of US sanctions law.

The Alavi Foundation is the successor organisation to the Pahlavi Foundation, established by the former Shah of Iran to advance Iranian interests in the United States. Most of the charity’s income is from rent collected on the New York Fifth Avenue skyscraper the Piaget Building, built by the Shah in 1978.