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Iran may legalize vigilantes to combat 'corruption and filth'

A new law proposed by Iranian conservatives would offer legal protection to ordinary citizens who desire to interfere in the public lives of citizens.
Iranian men gather at a park in central Tehran April 24, 2009. REUTERS/Morteza Nikoubazl (IRAN SOCIETY ODDLY) - RTXEBZG

A group of Principlist MPs in the Iranian parliament submitted a proposal for a parliamentary act that would legalize the undertaking of "enjoining good and forbidding wrong." This act, proposed on June 23, could curtail personal freedoms by legalizing the act of any individual wishing to intrude into the private lives of others.

"Enjoining good and forbidding wrong" is a ritual Islamic act, which means a Muslim may suggest to others, or order them, to do what is considered proper according to logic and Sharia, or conversely, not to do what is considered inappropriate to Sharia. According to Shiite Muslims, it is also one of the “ancillaries of the Islamic Faith” (furu ad-din). 

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