[UPDATE: For more on this subject, which casts doubt on the story quoted below, see here.]
The National Post (Canada) reports:
Human rights groups are raising alarms over a new law passed by the Iranian parliament that would require the country's Jews and Christians to wear coloured badges to identify them and other religious minorities as non-Muslims....
Iranian expatriates living in Canada yesterday confirmed reports that the Iranian parliament, called the Islamic Majlis, passed a law this week setting a dress code for all Iranians, requiring them to wear almost identical "standard Islamic garments."
The law, which must still be approved by Iran's "Supreme Guide" Ali Khamenehi before being put into effect, also establishes special insignia to be worn by non-Muslims.
Iran's roughly 25,000 Jews would have to sew a yellow strip of cloth on the front of their clothes, while Christians would wear red badges and Zoroastrians would be forced to wear blue cloth....
The new law was drafted two years ago, but was stuck in the Iranian parliament until recently when it was revived at the behest of President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad.
A spokesman for the Iranian Embassy in Ottawa refused to comment on the measures.
[Iranian President Mahmoud] Ahmadinejad has repeatedly described the Holocaust as a myth and earlier this year announced Iran would host a conference to re-examine the history of the Nazis' "Final Solution."
He has caused international outrage by publicly calling for Israel to be "wiped off the map." ...
I haven't seen any other stories on this, and the information trail cited in the story seems a little indirect — can anyone shed more light on this?
Many thanks to Clay Young for the pointer.
UPDATE: A Montreal radio station reports:
[I]ndependent reporter Meir Javedanfar, an Israeli Middle East expert who was born and raised in Tehran, says the report is ... "... absolutely factually incorrect[.]"(Thanks to OpinionJournal's Best of the Web and to reader Victor Steinbok for pointing me to this.)"Nowhere in the law is there any talk of Jews and Christians having to wear different colours. I've checked it with sources both inside Iran and outside."
"The Iranian people would never stand for it. The Iranian government wouldn't be stupid enough to do it."
Political commentator and 940 Montreal host Beryl Waysman says the report is true, that the law was passed two years ago....
As I noted in the original post, the information trail cited in the story seems a little indirect — if anyone can shed more light on this, I'd be much obliged.
Related Posts (on one page):
- National Post Apologizes for the Iranian-Jews-Required-to-Wear-Identifying-Markers Story:
- Jewish Member of Iranian Parliament:
- More on Iranian Dress Code?
- Iran Requiring Badges for Christians, Jews, and Zoroastrians?
This link (http://www.940news.com/locale.php?news=2512) suggests that it's a hoax. Nevertheless, there's not a lot of independant verification for either story.
--G
Link 1
Link 2
I'd also take hesitate before relying on the UPI story as verification, since it appears to me to be based on the original report.
—G
http://www.iribnews.ir/Full_en.asp?news_id=213272
Poor journalism, I think, when you are dealing with such an explosive story. How did the expats hear about it? Is there even a copy of the law anywhere? etc etc.
Things are so tense that we should be especially rigorous so as to avoid false alarms. This report could well be a feint originating from the Iranian propaganda machine so as to undermine those who think Iran a real danger, if you follow my logic.
As an online discussion grows longer, the probability of a comparison involving Nazis or Hitler approaches one.
Topics like this don't violate the law, they are trivial demonstrations of the law.
Ahmadinejad is not some kind of omnipotent God-Emperor. The article suggests that this law was passed by the Iranian Parliament.
This story is definitely worth getting to the bottom of. If true, the practice should be (but won't be) universally condemned. If false, it would make one wonder to what end such stories are disseminated...
Yeah, what possible reason would Iranian exiles in Canada have to make the government now ruling their homeland look bad? (Or CBS News to rush to report questionable stories about George Bush's National Guard service? )
http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/717902.html
But they seem to be quoting the same sources from Canada, and even put a disclaimer at the bottom of their article that they are not fully confident in the sources.
<blockquote>
The U.N. Special Rapporteur on Freedom of Religion or Belief recently revealed the existence of a confidential letter from the Chairman of the Command Headquarters of Iran's Armed Forces ordering the Ministry of Information, the Revolutionary Guard and the Police Force to identify and collect information about members of the Bahai faith.
</blockquote>
From http://www.adl.org/PresRele/Mise_00/4898_00.htm
It may be that the expatriates are looking at the history of the yellow patch for Jews in Iran.
This site www.avesta.org is good site to see Zoroastrian texts - but the "editorial" section is EXTREMELY culturally conservative and not representative of all Zoroastrians.
Zoroastrianism arose out of the Aryan branch of the Indo-European old religion depicted in the Rig Veda.
As for the actual topic, the National Post story backtracking from its initial report contains this:
So it's not like Taheri just dreamed this up. Moreover, there's historical precedent for it in Iran.
Nevertheless, it's one story we can be glad that Taheri and the Post apparently got wrong.
But more significantly, it seems to have had an ever bigger impact on Islam, and, in particular, Shiite Islam (no surprise there, since Shite Islam was developed there). For example, Zorastrians prayed five times a day at set times (though, I believe that Shias only have to pray three times a day). The Shiites adopted the Zorastrian calendar, with New Years being the spring Equinox (whereas, I believe, the Sunnis are much closer to the Jewish calendar). Also, I believe that a lot of Shiite, and, in particular, Iranian Shiite religious holidays were originally Zorastrian.