ADL Statement on Unconfirmed Reports of Iranian 'Dress Code'
New York, NY, May 19, 2006 The Anti-Defamation League (ADL) today issued the following statement in response to unconfirmed reports that the Iranian parliament may be considering a "dress code" bill that would include badges or other identifying marks for non-Muslims:
While it is factual that the Iranian parliament is considering some kind of dress code, there is no evidence of any discussion or legislation concerning badges or the like for Jews and others. Clearly, dress codes imposed by a government on a people are one more example of the backwardness of the regime, and would be unhealthy for all groups, including minorities. How this could affect Jews, Christians and other minorities is not immediately known.
We will continue to monitor the situation in Iran as this story develops and will make further comment when more information about the proposed Iranian law comes to light.
AJC Watching Iran Actions against Jewish Minority
May 19, 2006 - Washington - The American Jewish Committee issued the following statement regarding a reported Iranian law requiring Jews and other non-Muslims to wear identifying badges:
In the course of the day today, reports have raced across the Internet on a law said to have been passed by the Iranian Parliament this week imposing a form of national dress code in Iran and requiring that Jews and other non-Muslims wear identifying badges or strips of colored cloth. The story appears to have originated in the National Post of Canada.
If true, the story, with its chilling echoes of the Shoah, is another heinous example of the Iranian regime's contempt for human rights and norms of civilized behavior.
Throughout the day, AJC has been in touch with Iranian Jewish contacts, and with U.S. officials, as well as with contacts in Canada, to flesh out the story, so that our responses have the firmest possible factual base.
As of now, while our intensive inquiries continue, the report is unconfirmed.
Yehudit Barsky, director of AJC's division on Middle East and International Terrorism, who remains in regular contact with the 25,000-strong Iranian Jewish community, reports:
"We have been making inquiries with our contacts in the Iranian Jewish community regarding today's reports that the Iranian Majlis (Parliament) has passed a law instituting the requirement that Jews, Christians and Zoroastrians will be required to wear badges or distinctive dress identifying them according to their religious affiliation.
"There was passage of a law instating uniform Islamic dress for Muslims in Iran on May 14, but there was no mention of what Jews and other religious minorities would wear. Maurice Motamed, the Iranian Jewish representative to the Majlis, has denied these reports. At the present time we are not able to confirm that Jews are required to wear a badge or other distinctive dress."
Separately, an Iranian American group reported today that its own contacts in Iran, including a former head of the Iranian Jewish community, maintain that the press report is false. The U.S. State Department and Canadian Foreign Affairs Ministry (which has an embassy in Tehran) have told AJC they have no information on the story, and are checking. The White House tells AJC its information on a proposed "dress code" law includes no reference to Iran's Jewish minority.
Iranian Lawmakers Debate Women's Clothing
Friday May 19, 2006 11:16 PM
By TAREK AL-ISSAWI
Associated Press Writer
TEHRAN, Iran (AP) - Iran's conservative-dominated parliament is debating a draft law that would discourage women from wearing Western clothing, increase taxes on imported clothes and fund an advertising campaign to encourage citizens to wear Islamic-style garments.
A draft received preliminary approval Sunday and lawmakers debated it this week, but the parliament has not passed the bill. If adopted, the measure would require approval by the Guardian Council, a constitutional watchdog.
The measure has provoked concern outside Iran after a Canadian newspaper reported it included provisions that would require Jews, Christians, Zoroastrians and other non-Muslims to wear a patch of colored cloth on the front of their garments.
The National Post, quoting ``Iranian expatriates living in Canada,'' said the law would require ``Iran's roughly 25,000 Jews...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.''
In Tehran, legislator Emad Afroogh, who sponsored the bill and chairs the parliament's cultural committee, told The Associated Press on Friday there was no truth to the Canadian newspaper report.
``It's a sheer lie. The rumors about this are worthless,'' he said.
Afroogh said the bill seeks only to make women dress more conservatively and avoid Western fashions.
``The bill is not related to minorities. It is only about clothing,'' he said. ``Please tell them (in the West) to check the details of the bill. There is no mention of religious minorities and their clothing in the bill,'' he said.
Iranian Jewish lawmaker Morris Motamed told the AP: ``Such a plan has never been proposed or discussed in parliament. Such news, which appeared abroad, is an insult to religious minorities here.''
At Iran's mission to the United Nations, a diplomat, speaking anonymously because he was not allowed to make official statements, called the report ``completely false.''
``We reject that. It is not true. The minorities in Iran are completely free and are represented in the Iranian parliament,'' the diplomat said.
According to the bill, a joint committee of the parliament and Cabinet ministers will decide on the tax increase on imported clothes and other details.
``Promotion of Western and spontaneous styles has become a cultural problem in major cities. It needs national attention,'' Mahmoud Hosseini, spokesman of the cultural committee in the Majlis, or parliament, has said in comments broadcast live on state radio.
According to existing law, women must cover from head to toe, but many young women, buoyed by social freedoms granted to them during the 1997-2005 rule of former President Mohammad Khatami, ignore the law.
Since conservatives regained control of Iran's most powerful institutions, there have been increasing calls to implement strict Islamic laws that were largely ignored in the past.
Iran's Islamic law imposes tight restrictions on women. They need a male guardian's permission to work or travel. They are not allowed to become judges, and a man's court testimony is considered twice as important as a woman's.
Despite such restrictions, Iranian women have more rights than their counterparts in Saudi Arabia and some other conservative Muslim countries. They can drive, vote and run for office.
The State Department said Friday it was concerned about the reports on a special clothing rule for Iranian minorities.
Spokesman Sean McCormack said such a measure would be ``despicable'' and carry ``clear echoes of Germany under Hitler.''
McCormack said he could not comment further because the precise nature of the proposal was unclear.
Iran Story Stirs Things Up
Here we go. The National Post in Canada has published a story claiming that the Iranian parliament has passed a law "that would require the country's Jews and Christians to wear coloured badges to identify them and other religious minorities as non-Muslims." The story is sourced to "Iranian expatriates living in Canada."
So far, at least MSNBC and Fox News Channel have mentioned the story, and it has been the dominant story of the day in the blogosphere. Right now, mid-afternoon, many news outlets are in a scramble to find out if it is true. The Iranian embassy has denied it, and Mohammad Mohammadi, press officer at the Iranian mission to United Nations, told CBS News Radio the story is "completely untrue."
The Drudge Report has had a link to the story at the top of its page all day. CBSNews.com has not mentioned it. "It's potentially an explosive story but we won't touch it until we have some sort of concrete confirmation, and we haven't come close to that," says Dan Collins, senior producer for CBSNews.com.
CBS News Radio has also decided against running the story, according to Exective Producer Charlie Kaye. "There are too many red flags here," he says. "The best we can determine is this has originated with Iranian dissidents in Canada. We have spoken to a CBS News correspondent just back from Iran and her producer, we've spoken to the Iranian mission to the UN, we've spoken to our State Department Reporter Charlie Wolfson, and at this point we're not comfortable putting it on the radio." The story has run on WCBS 880 local radio news here in New York, however.
Stay tuned.
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