Questioning the Iranian Clothing Color Scheme Law Story

Yesterday, I blogged that Ahmadinejad and the mad mullahs in Iran were passing into law a requirement that non Muslims would have to wear distinguishing clothings or marks.

Late in the day, questions appeared about the veracity of the story, despite the fact that there is solid evidence and historical precedent to support such a contention. The problem is that the story as originally written was not true.

The authors of the original story and Amir Taheri, who wrote a companion piece, had better come forth with a good explanation. Their credibility is at stake here.

We're now hearing from other sources, including an Iranian member of Parliment who happens to be Jewish, that there is no such law.

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.

"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.

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.

Of course, it's still possible that this member the parliment was being put up by the mullahs to make these statements to deflect criticism, but there are other sources saying the same thing.

The paper now cites other experts are saying that the story isn't true, though it certainly appears that there was a kernel of truth in the original story:

The Simon Wiesenthal Centre and Iranian expatriates living in Canada had confirmed that the order had been passed, although it still had to be approved by Iran’s “Supreme Guide” Ali Khamenehi before being put into effect.

Hormoz Ghahremani, a spokesman for the Iranian Embassy in Ottawa, said in an e-mail to the Post yesterday that, “We wish to categorically reject the news item.

“These kinds of slanderous accusations are part of a smear campaign against Iran by vested interests, which needs to be denounced at every step.”

Sam Kermanian, of the U.S.-based Iranian-American Jewish Federation, said in an interview from Los Angeles that he had contacted members of the Jewish community in Iran — including the lone Jewish member of the Iranian parliament — and they denied any such measure was in place.

Mr. Kermanian said the subject of “what to do with religious minorities” came up during debates leading up to the passing of the dress code law.

“It is possible that some ideas might have been thrown around,” he said. “But to the best of my knowledge the final version of the law does not demand any identifying marks by the religious minority groups.”

Hot Air notes:

The Simon Wiesenthal Centre and Iranian expatriates living in Canada had confirmed that the order had been passed, although it still had to be approved by Iran’s “Supreme Guide” Ali Khamenehi before being put into effect…

Ali Reza Nourizadeh, an Iranian commentator on political affairs in London, suggested that the requirements for badges or insignia for religious minorities was part of a “secondary motion” introduced in parliament, addressing the changes specific to the attire of people of various religious backgrounds.

Mr. Nourizadeh said that motion was very minor and was far from being passed into law.

That account could not be confirmed.

Meanwhile, the Simon Weisenthal Center is demanding that the UN and Secretary General Kofi Annan investigate the National Uniform Law [as if the UN will manage this any better than other issues of international importance].

All told, it would appear that the paper and Taheri were either misled or went beyond the facts proffered by their contacts, various human rights groups and Iranian dissidents, who wanted to paint the mullahs in an even worse light. That's certainly a possibility - and if portions of this story was fabricated, they've done far more harm to the cause than they can imagine. It would undermine the credibility of those who want to see the mullahs overthrown - and there are plenty of good reasons to do so without fabricating evidence.

Pamela at Atlas Shrugs stands by her posting on the story, because as she correctly notes:

Despite a report in a Canadian newpaper that the badge story may not be accurate I will not retract it. Because it is the objective of Iran, the objective of Islam to convert all non Muslims to Islam or die (or live as dhimmis.)

Ahmadinejad's has made numerous declarations to wipe Israel off the map" and to "stop Christianity in his country." So why split hairs here?

Others blogging the original story and the follow up correction/clarifications: Volokh Conspiracy, All Things Beautiful, Gina Cobb, Seeing the Forest, Ed Morrissey, Assorted Babble, Stop the ACLU, Regime Change Iran, Liberty and Justice, memeorandum, Below the Beltway, Sister Toldjah, Anti-jihad Pundit, and Hot Air.


Technorati: iran, uranium, enriched uranium, iaea, nazi, ahmadinejad.