TEHRAN, Iran - Iran's parliament approved a bill Sunday providing for equal "blood money" compensation to be paid in the deaths or injuries of non-Muslim Iranian men as Muslims, a move aimed at protecting the rights of Iran's religious minorities.
The move sets new rules in an area of Islamic legislation where guidelines rarely are modernized. Non-Muslims are considered infidels by many Islamic fundamentalists, and the Islamic Republic's effort to recognize them as equally deserving of blood money compensation was welcomed by minorities in the country.
Conservative lawmaker Mohammad Qomi said the 290-seat legislature approved the bill in an open session of the parliament.
"According to the bill, Iran's recognized religious minorities will get equal blood money, like their Muslim countrymen," Qomi told The Associated Press.
It is expected to be approved by the hard-line Guardian Council, which is required of any bill before it becomes law. The bill has the backing of Iran's supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, who has the final say on all state matters.
The average amount of blood money now paid by an attacker to relatives of a Muslim man killed stands at 150 million rials (US$18,750). The payment is about half that if the victim was Christian, Jewish, Zoroastrian or female regardless of her religion.
A reformist female lawmaker, Elaheh Koulaee, said parliament was also at work to win support for similar blood money rights for women.
"Fortunately, religious leaders are recognizing the need to respond to legitimate demands of the time that promote equality and end discrimination," she said. "Paying half blood money to non-Muslim and women citizens does harm Iran's international image."
Koulaee, who won her seat on the promise of promoting women's rights, said female legislators have the critical support from religious leaders in the holy city of Qom to include equal blood money for women.
Iran's only Jewish legislator, Maurice Motamed, welcomed the bill, but said Iran's non-Muslim citizens expects equality in other areas. He called for non-Muslims' to be allowed to testify in Islamic courts — something now not permitted — and for government organizations to employ non-Muslims as President Mohammad Khatami advocates.
"It will be really great that Iran's non-Muslim citizens will get equal blood money," he said.
Minorities are largely allowed to practice their faith in Iran, and have their own schools, churches, synagogues and temples. While the Islamic leadership bans mixed dancing, religious minorities are permitted to dance together in their clubs and behind closed doors.
Five seats in the 290-seat parliament are set aside for recognized religious minorities: one for Zoroastrians, one for Jews, two for Armenian Christians and one for other Christians.