No one seems to be able to confirm this one for sure (yet), but Canada and Australia are reporting that Iran has passed a law requiring all members of religious minorities to wear coloured badges:

Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper said he had “only seen reports” about the law but commented he would not be surprised by them.

“Unfortunately, we have seen enough already from the Iranian regime to suggest that it is very capable of this kind of action,” he said.

“It think it boggles the mind that any regime on the face of the earth would want to do anything that could remind people of Nazi Germany,” he added.

“The fact that such a measure could even be contemplated, I think, is absolutely abhorent.”

Coloured badges. This has got to be a joke right? Please, someone tell me this is a joke.

(update: The World Peace Herald has just picked up the story:

Iranian expatriates confirmed reports the Iranian parliament, or majlis, has approved a law that would require the roughly 25,000 Jews living in the Islamic Republic to attach a yellow strip of cloth to their clothing; Christians would wear red badges and Zoroastrians would wear blue ones.

The law further mandates that non-Muslims adhere to a dress code under which they wear “standard Islamic garments” that remove ethnic and class distinctions, the Canadian National Post reported Friday. The purpose would be to prevent Muslims from shaking the hands of “unclean” non-Muslims in public.

The Iranian government’s treatment of Baha’is has already led some to compare Iran to Nazi Germany, but now the parallels are just impossible to ignore.

Another update: more stories here and here.)

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