SWC Urges UN Secretary General, Kofi Annan to Investigate Iranian "Uniform Law"

May 19, 2006

The Honorable Kofi Annan
Secretary General of the United Nations
United Nations
New York, NY  10017

Dear Secretary General Annan:

I am writing you on a matter of grave concern regarding a new Iranian “National Uniform Law” that was discussed in the Iranian Parliament, the Majlis, on Monday.  The law was drafted two years ago and held up in the Iranian Parliament.  It has now been revived and pushed forward by President Ahmadinejad.

According to an editorial that was to appear in Friday’s National Post, by Amir Taheri, a well known and well respected analyst on Iranian affairs, a consensus has developed regarding color badges to be worn by non-Moslems: yellow for Jews, red for Christians, blue for Zoroastrians and other colors for other religions.   This would make religious minorities immediately identifiable and allow Moslems to avoid contact with non-Moslems.

If this is true, it would move Iran even closer to the Nazi ideology of the 1930s which also began with yellow badges and ended with the Holocaust that led to the murder of six million Jews and millions of other innocent civilians.

Given President Ahmadinejad’s record of labeling the Holocaust a myth and calling for the obliteration of the State of Israel, we must urgently take action.  Now is the time for the United Nations and the international community to launch an immediate investigation, to seek clarification from the Iranians themselves on whether or not the new “National Uniform Law” would single out non-Moslems and require them to wear a color-coded identification patch.  If that is not their intention, then let President Ahmadinejad tell the world it is not so. 

Sincerely,

Rabbi Marvin Hier
Founder and Dean