Iranian Parliament Approves Death Penalty For Apostasy

Once again, the Iranians show their tolerance for other religions and points of view. They've again approved a law that imposes the death penalty for anyone who commits apostasy - leaving the religion of Islam to practice any other religion. Previously, the bill would come up for periodic reauthorization, but now the law is permanent.

Last week, Iran's Majlis ratified a bill under which any Muslim who converts to another religion would be put to death, with no possibility of pardon.

The bill was approved by a majority of 196 to 7, with two abstentions.

The few Iranian media outlets that covered the issue played down their reports, while on others, such as the Majlis website and the website of the conservative daily Resalat, the reports were removed after a few hours.

Under the bill, anyone declaring publicly that he was knowingly abandoning Islam of his own free will face the death penalty.

The bill is now in permanent force, after being extended every five years since its temporary ratification in 1991.

Why would the Iranians want people to not know the full extent of their religious fundamentalism, unless they thought that it might get people suspicious (okay, more suspicious) of their intentions?

As I've noted before, if as a Muslim you willingly deviate from established religious edicts on Islam, you too can be considered apostate. That's a death warrant. The Iranians, among other religious totalitarian regimes, have carried out such sentences before, and are more than willing to do so in the future.