Basic HTML Version
DEFENDERS
36
Au t umn&wi n t e r
2 0 1 4 & 2 0 1 5
Rights of Non-Religious Minorities in the
IranianConstitution
Introduction
Article 14 of the Iranian Constitution
warns Muslims as a majority in Iran that they
treat their fellow non-Muslim citizens with
dignity so that they do not feel that they have
been marginalized.
1
Also the law stresses
that other Muslims that have all human
rights must be treated with dignity and
justice and their human rights be respected.
This reiteration of the legislator is a sort of
positive discrimination in legal definition so
that the majority does not ignore the rights
of minorities. Non-Muslim non-holy book
citizens that due to their low numbers the
legislator has not fully named them, as long
as they are not deemed as against the Islamic
Republic system, they are fully entitled to
their human rights and citizen’s rights. These
individuals are split into two groups of illegal
religious and illegal social minorities. The
term illegal does not necessarily mean those
who break the law or the opponents, but it is
allocated to groups that are not included in
the law, even if they are not the opposition.
Because article 14 of the Constitution is
credible for the rights of those who do not
conspire against Islam and the Islamic
Republic of Iran.
Illegal Religious Minority Citizens
The human rights of all minorities be they
legal or illegal (as stated in the law) according
to article 3 of the Iranian Constitution is
guaranteed by the government. One of the
criteriaofcitizen’s rightsandnothumanrights
goes back to the loyalty levels in the public’s
interest. The faced of these public interests
lie in a democratic regime and government.
The more the citizen’s commitments of he
individual the more benefits he or she has.
Undoubtedly from citizen’s duties aspects,
the duties of a Muslim individual is much
more than a non-Muslim’s and for a non-
Muslim citizen that has a social contract
with the Islamic government alongside other
Muslims, he or she is deemed the citizen of
the Islamic government. This is deemed a
unique advantage (in both old and new legal
systems). Because as well as current costs of
citizenship, Muslims are duty bound to carry
out religious duties such as the payment
of a fifth of their income, prohibited from
buying and selling of unlawful goods and
property, and citizen’s commitments such
as conscription, religious war and defence,
in such way that the tax of a Muslim is
three to four times that of a non-Muslim
individual, while non-Muslim citizens do
not have religious and legal commitments
and enjoy all their human rights that include
suitable jobs, social security, retirement,
health, education and housing. This level
of commitment is proportionately less for
non-Muslim citizens that have Holy Books,
for the simple reason not in financial and
religious commitment of Muslims and not
economic and legal commitments of those
that have Holy Books, and fundamentally
due to the link with the government not
being specific (active loyalty) and in a way
declaration of neutrality with regards to
the dominant ideology the non-Muslim
citizen is exempt from political, defence and
military commitments, therefore in the same
proportion they are denied the same rights in
these types of participations. But continually
the fundamental rights of these types of
minorities are provided in accordance with
the Constitution.
In the first round of the UPR on Iran, the minorities issue was
one of the subjects that various countries had dealt with through
recommendations. Also in the second round of the UPR on Iran, 23
out of the total of 291 recommendations were directly to do with
minorities. To this aim, this issue of Defenders glances at the subject
of religious
minorities within the Constittion of the Islamic Republic of Iran
and Laws Governing the Citizen’s Rights of Minorities :
1- In accordance with the
sacred verse; (“God does not
forbid you to deal kindly and
justly with those who have not
fought against you because of
your religion and who have not
expelled you from your homes”
[60:8]), the government of the
Islamic Republic of Iran and all
Mu slims are duty-bound to treat
non-Muslims in conformity with
ethical norms and the principles
of Islamic justice and equity,
and to respect their human
rights. This principle applies to
all who refrain from engaging
in conspiracy or activity against
Islam and the Islamic Republic
of Iran.