[Infowarrior] - OT: Iran eyes badges for Jews

[Richard Forno]

While offtopic for the list, I felt it necessary to post because this item
is disturbing on SO many levels.

-rf

Iran eyes badges for Jews
Law would require non-Muslim insignia
 http://www.canada.com/components/print.aspx?id=11fbf4a8-282a-4d18-954f-5467
09b1240f&k=32073

Chris Wattie
National Post

Friday, May 19, 2006

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.

"This is reminiscent of the Holocaust," said Rabbi Marvin Hier, the dean of
the Simon Wiesenthal Center in Los Angeles. "Iran is moving closer and
closer to the ideology of the Nazis."

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.

"There's no reason to believe they won't pass this," said Rabbi Hier. "It
will certainly pass unless there's some sort of international outcry over
this."

Bernie Farber, the chief executive of the Canadian Jewish Congress, said he
was "stunned" by the measure. "We thought this had gone the way of the dodo
bird, but clearly in Iran everything old and bad is new again," he said.
"It's state-sponsored religious discrimination."

Ali Behroozian, an Iranian exile living in Toronto, said the law could come
into force as early as next year.

It would make religious minorities immediately identifiable and allow
Muslims to avoid contact with non-Muslims.

Mr. Behroozian said it will make life even more difficult for Iran's small
pockets of Jewish, Christian and other religious minorities -- the country
is overwhelmingly Shi'ite Muslim. "They have all been persecuted for a
while, but these new dress rules are going to make things worse for them,"
he said.

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. "This is nothing to do with anything here," said a press secretary
who identified himself as Mr. Gharmani.

"We are not here to answer such questions."

The Simon Wiesenthal Centre has written to Kofi Annan, the Secretary-General
of the United Nations, protesting the Iranian law and calling on the
international community to bring pressure on Iran to drop the measure.

"The world should not ignore this," said Rabbi Hier. "The world ignored
Hitler for many years -- he was dismissed as a demagogue, they said he'd
never come to power -- and we were all wrong."

Mr. Farber said Canada and other nations should take action to isolate Mr.
Ahmadinejad in light of the new law, which he called "chilling," and his
previous string of anti-Semitic statements.

"There are some very frightening parallels here," he said. "It's time to
start considering how we're going to deal with this person."

Mr. 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."

Iran does not yet have nuclear weapons, but Tehran believed by Western
nations to be developing its own nuclear military capability, in defiance of
international protocols and peace treaties.

The United States, France and Israel accuse Iran of using a civilian nuclear
program to secretly build a weapon. Iran denies this, saying its program is
confined to generating electricity.

cwattie at nationalpost.com
© National Post 2006