Sloppy journalism from Amir Taheri

Iranian expatriate journalist Amir Taheri wrote an article alleging that the Iranian government was going to require Jews, Christians and Zoroastrians to wear identifying symbols, though he made it clear that the law would not come into force without further consensus on its details. The truth of this has since come into question, and since the allegation is highly controversial in nature, with every interested party weighing in with charges of "hoax" and the like, it has become difficult to find out the facts of the matter. We can at least look at Taheri's own statements for consistency, though. In the article just mentioned, he implies that there was already (unofficial) agreement among the policymakers that the religious minorities would have to wear the zonnar:

YELLOW LABEL FOR JEWS AS CHILLING DRESS CODE ECHOES THE HOLOCAUST

New York Post, May 20, 2006

. . . Although the final shape of the uniforms is yet to be established, there is consensus on a number of points. The idea of adopting an Arab-style robe (known as dishdash) for men has been rejected along with a proposal that men wear a form of turban. [Taheri then describes a lack of consensus over jackets or waistcoats.]

On color schemes, however, there seems to be consensus. Islamic legislators are unanimous that Islam is incompatible with "gay, wild, provocative colors" such as red, yellow and light blue (which are supposed to be favored by Satan). The colors to be imposed by law are expected to be black, brown, dark blue and dark gray . . . .[There is then some discussion of a lack of consensus regarding wearing green.]

Religious minorities would have their own color schemes. They will also have to wear special insignia, known as zonnar, to indicate their non-Islamic faiths. Jews would be marked out with a yellow strip of cloth sewn in front of their clothes, while Christians will be assigned the color red. Zoroastrians end up with Persian blue as the color of their zonnar . . . .

The question of zonnar for religious minorities seems to have been resolved, judging by that description. But here is Taheri's press release two days later, claiming to stand by his story:

. . . The law has been passed by the Islamic Majlis and will now be submitted to the Council of Guardians. A committee has been appointed to work out the modalities of implementation. Many ideas are being discussed with regard to implementation, including special markers, known as zonnars, for followers of Judaism, Christianity and Zoroastrianism, the only faiths other than Islam that are recognized as such . . . .

It seems that Taheri has here watered down his initial statement in a rather significant way while claiming not to have changed it.