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Jewish legislator criticizes treatment of non-Muslim Iranians

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December 25, 2000 

TEHRAN-- (UNB/AP) - Iran's only Jewish legislator criticized on Sunday the treatment of non-Muslims in the country, the Islamic Republic News Agency reported.

"I call on the Muslim religious leaders and the officials of the judiciary to pay more attention to the rights of non-Muslim families as far as issues such as blood money and the verdicts of the courts are concerned," said Maurice Motamed, the sole Jewish representative in Iran's 290-seat parliament.

Motamed was referring to Iran's criminal laws, which award twice as much blood money - financial compensation to a murder victim's family - to Muslims than to non-Muslims.

Motamed, who was speaking during a session at the Majlis, or parliament, also criticized government recruitment policies, saying that blocking educated people from holding government jobs went against the goals of Iran. He did not elaborate.

Iran maintains all of its citizens, regardless of their race or religion, enjoy equal rights.

Iranian Jews are allowed to practice aspects of their religion, but are forbidden to teach Hebrew, the liturgical language. There were 80,000 Jews in Iran just before the 1979 Islamic revolution, but the community has dwindled to 25,000. It remains the largest Jewish community in the Middle East outside Israel.

Iran came under intense international pressure last year after it arrested 13 Iranian Jews and later convicted 10 of them on charges of spying for Israel.