Iranian lawmakers have taken on the mission of ridding the Islamic republic of a threat that has been lurking in people's homes: Pets.
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Iranian media reported Wednesday that 75 MPs – 25% of parliamentarians – have recently endorsed legislation that criminalizes keeping pets and walking dogs.
The bill states that walking dogs will be punishable by a heavy fine, authorities will be able to confiscate vehicles transporting dogs, and homeowners will soon be barred from renting flats to dog and cat owners.
Sharia law – Islam's religious edicts – bars keeping a dog inside the house because it is "unclean." Cats, on the other hand, are admired for their cleanliness and according to many Muslim hadith – what the majority of Muslims believe to be a record of the words, actions, and the silent approval of the Prophet Muhammad – Islam prohibits the persecution and killing of cats.
The rigid clergy in Iran, however, takes a hard line on all pets.
According to French news agency AFP, the bill, titled "Support for the rights of the population in relation to harmful and dangerous animals," which condemn the practice of keeping pets in the house as a "destructive social problem" that "could gradually change the Iranian and Islamic way of life" by "replacing human and family relationships with feelings and emotional relationships towards animals."
The proposed legislation seeks to bar "importing, raising, assisting in the breeding of, breeding, buying or selling, transporting, driving or walking, and keeping in the home wild, exotic, harmful and dangerous animals."
It lists the animals to be banned as "crocodiles, turtles, snakes, lizards, cats, mice, rabbits, dogs and other unclean animals as well as monkeys."
The bill has sparked criticism in the press, mockery on social networks and anger among residents of the capital, AFP reported.
"These projects will certainly cause chaos, corruption, and collective disobedience to this law because living with animals is now a cultural phenomenon," warned the reformist daily Shargh.
Some internet users reacted with irony and sarcasm.
"How many times have cats sought to devour you so that you consider them wild, harmful and dangerous?" journalist Yeganeh Khodami asked on Twitter.
"I agree with the project in general, but I certainly disagree with some of its clauses," Moussa Ghazanfarabadi, the head of parliament's judicial commission who signed the text, was cited as saying.
"It is just a bill, but whether it succeeds is another matter," he told AFP.
Environmentalist lawmaker Somayeh Rifiei said, "No one can deny the services that animals provide to humans, but this area must be regulated."
The Iranian regime has already tried to ban dogs altogether three times in the past but has failed. Social media users predicted the fourth attempt was doomed, as well.
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