ysvlek: Iran Dress

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Both National Post articles went on to say that non-Muslim religious minorities in Iran would be required to wear "special insignia": yellow for Jews, red for Christians and blue for Zoroastrian. According to the article by Taheri, "[t]he new codes would enable Muslims to easily recognize non-Muslims so that they can avoid shaking hands with them by mistake, and thus becoming najis (unclean)." According to both articles, Iranian Muslims would have to wear "standard Islamic garments".
Wattie's original article listed only "human rights groups" and "Iranian expatriates living in Canada" as its sources. Amir Taheri made a statement on May 22 saying the National Post story he authored was used by "a number of reports that somehow jumped the gun" and that he stands by the article. Amir states he raised the issue "not as a news story" but rather "as an opinion column".
The Associated Press later refuted the Post report as well, saying that "a draft law moving through parliament encourages Iranians to wear Islamic clothing to protect the country's Muslim identity but does not mention special attire for religious minorities, according to a copy obtained Saturday by The Associated Press." Reuters also reported that "A copy of the bill obtained by Reuters contained no such references. Reuters correspondents who followed the dress code session in parliament as it was broadcast on state radio heard no discussion of proscriptions for religious minorities."

Iran to launch new dress code

Women photo| Women photo Iran

Iran\x26#39;s dress-code crackdown

Iran\x26#39;s women are taking on the

The issue of Islamic dress

In Chris Wattie's follow-up article "Experts say reports of badges for Jews in Iran is untrue", the National Post quotes Meir Javdanfar, an Israeli expert on Iran and the Middle East:

An chador-clad Iranian

Iran\x26#39;s women are taking on the

Iranian woman

Iran 2010 - Basij religious

Women photo| Women photo Iran

Meir Javdanfar, an Israeli expert on Iran and the Middle East who was born and raised in Tehran, said yesterday that he was unable to find any evidence that such a law had been passed. "None of my sources in Iran have heard of this," he said. "I don't know where this comes from." Mr. Javdanfar said that not all clauses of the law had been passed through the parliament and said the requirement that Jews, Christians and Zoroastrians wear special insignia might be part of an older version of the Islamic dress law, which was first written two years ago. "In any case, there is no way that they could have forced Iranian Jews to wear this," he added. "The Iranian people would never stand for it."
"[I]ndependent reporter Meir Javedanfar, an Israeli Middle East expert who was born and raised in Tehran, says the report is false. "It's absolutely factually incorrect," he told The New 940 Montreal. "Nowhere in the law is there any talk of Jews and Christians having to wear different colours. I've checked it with sources both inside Iran and outside." "The Iranian people would never stand for it. The Iranian government wouldn't be stupid enough to do it."

Iran\x26#39;s strict dress code.

DRESS CODE: Iranian

Iranian women do not wear the

Iran women\x26#39;s national football

hated dress code

"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." According to Sam Kermanian, secretary general of the Iranian American Jewish Federation, his contacts in the Iranian Jewish community, including Maurice Motamed, said that there was no such law. The New York Sun quoted Kermanian as saying that "We have not been able to confirm the accuracy of the report, nonetheless we are pursuing this issue with concern[.]" "This report is a complete fabrication and is totally false," Maurice Motammed told AFP in Tehran. "It is a lie, and the people who invented it wanted to make political gain" by doing so. .... 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. "This is an insult to the Iranian people and to religious minorities in Iran," he said.