However, during the debate, Deputy Hassan Ghafuri-fard said anyone with dual citizenship should be “imprisoned and punished.” It wasn’t clear why the bill failed, but it might have had something to do with the fact that a number of senior clerics—for example Ayatollah Mahmud Hashemi-Shahrudi (photo), the former chairman of the Judiciary who is now a member of the 12-man Council of Guardians—hold both Iranian and Iraqi citizenship.
