Apologies for the attention-grabbing and highly emotive subject line, but in this instance I think it's justified. Get a load of this:
Iran eyes badges for Jews (and Christians)
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."
Source: Canada.com
This really is a shocker. A law has been passed by the Iranian parliament calling for all non-Muslims to be identified by a coloured badge. Yellow for
Jews, red for Christians, blue for
Zoroastrians.
All the law needs is the Ayatollah's stamp of approval. I really cannot understand the reasons for doing this, other than just to upset people. But
then again, from this holocaust denying regime which despises anything un-Islamic, I'm not really that surprised either.
Background on Iran's Jewish minority: Currently estimated to be about 25,000, down from about 100,000 before the Islamic revolution. Jewish women are
expected to conform to Islamic dress code when outside their home. More info
here.
Christians also live under "dhimmi" status in Iran - some information
here and
here.
Of course, I'm open to the suggestion that this could all be a mistranslation
[edit on 24-11-2009 by mattpryor]