- Iran's only Jewish MP strongly denied
reports in a Canadian newspaper overnight that Iran may force non-Muslims
to wear coloured badges in public so they can be identified.
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- "This report is a complete fabrication
and is totally false," Maurice Motammed said in Tehran. "It is
a lie, and the people who invented it wanted to make political gain"
by doing so.
-
- The National Post newspaper quoted human
rights groups as saying that Iran's parliament passed a law this week setting
a public dress code and requiring non-Muslims to wear special insignia.
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- Jews, Christians and Zoroastrians would
be forced to wear a yellow, red or blue strip of cloth, respectively, on
the front of their clothes, it said.
-
- Mr Motammed said he had been present
in parliament when a bill to promote "an Iranian and Islamic style
of dress for women" was voted. "In the law, there is no mention
of religious minorities," he added.
-
- MPs representing Iran's Jewish, Christian
and Zoroastrian minorities sit on all parliamentary committees, particularly
the cultural one, he said.
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- "This is an insult to the Iranian
people and to religious minorities in Iran," he said.
-
- Australian Prime Minister John Howard
said overnight, during an official visit to Ottawa, that "anything
of that kind would be totally repugnant to civilised countries, if it's
the case, and something that would just further indicate to me the nature
of this regime. It would be appalling."
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- Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper
said he had only seen reports about the law but that he would not be surprised
by them.
-
- "Unfortunately, we have seen enough
already from the Iranian regime to suggest that it is very capable of this
kind of action," he said.
-
- "It think 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," he added.
-
- "The fact that such a measure could
even be contemplated, I think, is absolutely abhorrent."
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- Harper's parliamentary secretary, Jason
Kenney, told the House of Commons that Canadian officials were trying to
verify the claims.
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- http://www.heraldsun.news.com.au/common/story_page/
0,5478,19196947%255E1702,00.html
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