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A
member of Iran’s parliament reportedly revealed that the
country’s Parliamentary Committee has stricken the
mandatory death penalty for those who leave Islam from
proposals for an amended penal code.
Citing a BBC report, U.K.-based Christian Solidarity
Worldwide (CSW) announced that a member of Iran’s Legal
and Judicial Committee of Parliament, Ali Shahrokhi, had
told the Iranian state news agency of the decision to
eliminate the mandatory death penalty amendment which
had drawn international protests.
The committee had come under intense international
pressure to drop clauses from the Islamic Penal Code
Bill that allowed stoning and made death the mandatory
punishment for apostates. The bill must now pass through
a final parliamentary vote before being sent to Iran’s
most influential body, the Guardian Council, which will
make a ruling.
Iran has been criticized for its treatment of
Christians, Baha’is and Zoroastrians who have all
suffered under the current regime.
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