Say, that famous Muslim tolerance of other faiths we’ve heard so much about?
I’m thinking someone’s not being quite truthful.
A month ago, the Iranian parliament voted in favour of a draft bill, entitled “Islamic Penal Code”, which would codify the death penalty for any male Iranian who leaves his Islamic faith. Women would get life imprisonment. The majority in favour of the new law was overwhelming: 196 votes for, with just seven against.
Imposing the death penalty for changing religion blatantly violates one of the most fundamental of all human rights. The right to freedom of religion is enshrined in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, in the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, and in the European Convention of Human Rights. It is even enshrined as Article 23 of Iran’s own constitution, which states that no one may be molested simply for his beliefs.
And yet few politicians or clerics in Iran see any contradiction between a law mandating the death penalty for changing religion and Iran’s constitution. There has been no public protest in Iran against it.
Not only that, but they’re probably really anxious to put the law into practice.
For one woman living in London, however, the Iranian parliamentary vote cannot be brushed aside. Rashin Soodmand is a 29-year-old Iranian Christian. Her father, Hossein Soodmand, was the last man to be executed in Iran for apostasy, the “crime” of abandoning one’s religion. He had converted from Islam to Christianity in 1960, when he was 13 years old. Thirty years later, he was hanged by the Iranian authorities for that decision.
Today, Rashin’s brother, Ramtin, is also held in a prison cell in Mashad, Iran’s holiest city. He was arrested on August 21. He has not been charged but he is a Christian. And Rashin fears that, just as her father was the last man to be executed for apostasy in Iran, her brother may become one of the first to be killed under Iran’s new law.
Guaranteed that when Mahmoud Ahmadinejad is asked about this in his next interview, he’ll say the reporters are a) Zionists b) not speaking for all Americans or c) don’t have the facts straight.
We have the facts straight. Iranian law is sharia law. According to sharia, apostates must die.
“Women would get life imprisonment.”
And who says that Islam doesn’t care for its womenfolk?
“Guaranteed that when Mahmoud Ahmadinejad is asked about this in his next interview…”
I think it’s more likely that he will convert to Christianity before any of our MSM asks him about this.
And, yet, left anti-Zionists perpetually whine about Israeli human rights abuses. With the exception of Israel the entire Middle East is undemocratic and far worse abusers of human rights and women’s rights (not to mention gay rights, for chrissake), yet it’s always Israel that gets singled out for vilification.
The very word “Zionism” has become an epithet for a small percentage of anti-Semitic left radicals. They read Pappé and then blather nonsense about “ethnic cleansing.”
I don’t know about you guys, but I am convinced that anti-Zionism is a form of anti-Semitism because it suggests that of all the world’s peoples, the Jews, and only the Jews, despite the Holocaust, should be denied self-determination and self-defense.
Anti-Zionism is a plague on the political landscape.
Karmafish, I have no idea why your comments keep on going into the
moderation queue. You’re not using any spam keywords, you’ve had at least one comment approved, and your IP is not on my spam list.
This happened to one of my other readers for the longest time, then stopped.
Just an FYI.
No worries, Meryl.
Cheers.