TEHRAN: Iran has passed a law allowing the government to grant citizenship to the families of foreigners killed while fighting for the country, the official IRNA news agency reported on Monday.
“Members of parliament authorised the government to grant Iranian citizenship to the wife, children and parents of foreign martyrs who died on a mission... during the Iran-Iraq war (1980-1988) and afterwards,” it said.
Citizenship must be awarded “within a maximum period of one year after the request”, IRNA added.
No figures are available on the number of foreign fighters killed during the Iran-Iraq war, but Afghans, and even a group of Iraqis, fought alongside Iranian forces against the regime of Saddam Hussein.
The law could apply to “volunteers” from Afghanistan and Pakistan who are fighting in Syria and Iraq against militants including the militant Islamic State group and Al Nusra Front.
Iran says its Fatemiyoun Brigade, comprised of Afghan recruits, are volunteers defending sacred Shia sites in Syria and Iraq against extremists like those of the IS.
Iranian media regularly report on the death of Afghan and Pakistani volunteers in Syria and Iraq, whose bodies are buried in Iran.
Published in Dawn, May 3rd , 2016
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