Iran issues sewn on patches for Christians, Jews, all non muslims

[Grimmlok]

Sieg Heil! Sieg Heil!

Iran eyes badges for Jews
Law would require non-Muslim insignia

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@nationalpost.com

http://www.canada.com/components/pri...b1240f&k=32073

[serenity]

If Mr. Ahmadinejad is this loony without nuclear weapons, I would hate to see him if he ever gets any.

[UndercoverGator]

Are they warming up the ovens over there yet?

[Grimmlok]

Turns out it was a piece of misinformation straight out of BushCo.

Looks like they're trying to ramp up the case for war.

[UndercoverGator]

Originally Posted by Mushy

So, should anybody do anything about this?

Or, just make jokes about ovens?

We're a world away so what else COULD we do? Oh, I forget, you're a Repub so you probably want us to attack.

[moomies]

Originally Posted by Grimmlok

Turns out it was a piece of misinformation straight out of BushCo.

Looks like they're trying to ramp up the case for war.

Really Grimms? I saw the Canadian PM commenting on this on the news and he said he/Canada will definitely do something about it. But since our gvt is conservative, it'll prolly follow the steps of the BushCo.

We're a world away so what else COULD we do? Oh, I forget, you're a Repub so you probably want us to attack.

lol. I don't think the US should or is obliged to do anything (i.e. attack). Iran is a sovereign country, they have their own ways, laws, lifestyles. All we can do is to critique and hopefully the international community and politicians can persuade them not to adopt such a discriminatory practice.

Maybe we the ordinary ppl are powerless to do anything but I think it's good that we discuss and even joke about it. It's all fine by me.

[Grimmlok]

LOL yeah, Harper is just carrying the torch. A montreal investigative reporter found out the whole thing was fake.

Even the Iranians at the embassy laughed at that one, apparently. Even expats thought the notion was ridiculous

[Grimmlok]

OTTAWA, Canada (Reuters) -- A Canadian newspaper apologized Wednesday for an article that said Iran planned to force Jews and other religious minorities to wear distinctive clothing to distinguish themselves from Muslims.

The National Post ran the piece on its front page Friday along with a large photo from 1944 that showed a Hungarian couple wearing the yellow stars that the Nazis forced Jews to sew to their clothing.

The story, which included tough anti-Iran comments, was picked up widely by Web sites and by other media.

"Is Iran turning into the new Nazi Germany? Share your opinion online," the paper asked readers Friday.

But the National Post, a longtime supporter of Israel and critic of Tehran, admitted Wednesday it had not checked the piece thoroughly enough before running it.

"It is now clear the story is not true," Douglas Kelly, the National Post's editor in chief, wrote in a long editorial on Page 2. "We apologize for the mistake and for the consternation it has caused not just National Post readers, but the broader public who read the story."

The article was based on a column by Iranian expatriate writer Amir Taheri, who said a law being debated by Iran's parliament would force Jews to sew a yellow strip of cloth to their clothes. Christians would wear a red strip while Zoroastrians would wear a blue one.

Iranian lawmakers, including the country's sole Jewish parliamentarian, have flatly denied the National Post story, saying there is no mention of discriminatory measures against religious minorities in a new dress code bill.

The article and column appeared at a time when the international community is pressuring Tehran over its nuclear program.

Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad also has sparked fears in the international community by denying the Holocaust, in which the Nazis killed 6 million Jews, and by calling for Israel to be "wiped off the map."

Asked about the Post story last week, Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper said Iran "is very capable of this kind of action." He added: "It boggles the mind that any regime on the face of the Earth would want to do anything that could remind people of Nazi Germany."

A spokesman for Harper said the prime minister had started off his comments with the words "if this is true."

But Iran summoned Canada's ambassador to Tehran to explain Harper's remarks, a diplomat said Wednesday.

"Ambassador Gordon Venner was summoned on Sunday afternoon, May 21," a Canadian diplomat said.

Diplomatic relations between Ottawa and Tehran have been icy since 2003 when Iranian-Canadian photojournalist Zahra Kazemi died in custody in Tehran. Ottawa also has consistently taken a robust line on Iran's disputed atomic program.

[sweetrebel]

Originally Posted by UndercoverGator

We're a world away so what else COULD we do? Oh, I forget, you're a Repub so you probably want us to attack.

Feel something akin to astonishment? There were over a million people killed at Auschwitz in ONE YEAR. It is frightening that this could possibly happen again to ANYONE.
I don't think that the US should run and fight the fight for everyone, but it wouldn't hurt for us to show some compassion for these people. Even if we don't agree with their religions-no one deserves to be treated that way...
We may be a world away, UCG, but we are all still of the human race.

[Grimmlok]

Sometimes I wonder..

*looks at Pat Robertson and his slavering hordes of evangelical crazies*

[sweetrebel]

Pat Roberson is a blubbering idiot, Grimm...please don't judge the rest of humanity by him...

[Grimmlok]

Oh god, no. There are, sadly, many more examples of blubbeirng idiots these days. It's getting hard to objectively view the species.