Recently there has been a lot of happy and sad news about human rights in Iran.
Besides reports such as that of the shepherd who didn’t kill the leopard which tore 44 of his sheep apart and later on donated the governmental compensation on wildlife protection grounds, there have been stories about ill-treatments by zoo owners, circus managers, poachers and the like.
The Chairman of Iran’s Association of Animal Rights Watch has in an interesting initiative conducted a series of interviews with prominent Shiite clergies, or Marja’s as they are called, to obtain their verdict on animal abuse.
All the clergymen have denounced cruelty to animals on religious grounds and demanded that people or organizations that ill-treat animals must face decisive legal action.
Grand ayatollahs Makarem Shirazi, Sobhani, Noori Hamedani, Alavi Gorgani, Shahroodi, Mazaheri, Mousavi Ardabili, Rouhani, and others have all condemned animal abuse and asked for proper legal action accordingly.