Report on Citizenship Law: Iran nor after the Iranian revolution. In other words, under both systems, a native born citizen could not be stripped of his/her nationality under any circumstance113. However, in pre-revolution Iran, there was the possibility of involuntary loss of nationality under certain conditions for those who had naturalised as Iranian citizens. Article 981 of the Civil Code (which was repealed in 1982) stated that “If within a period of five years from the date of issuance of the document of nationality, it becomes known that the person naturalised as an Iranian national has been a deserter from military service and also if, before the expiry of the period fixed by Iranian laws for the prescription of prosecution in the case of offences or of imposition of consequent punishments, it is uncovered that the person accepted as an Iranian national was previously convicted of important offences or public crimes, the Council of Ministers will issue a decision revoking Iranian nationality from that person”114. After the Revolution, nevertheless, involuntary loss of citizenship that could lead to statelessness was explicitly abolished by Articles 41 and 42 of new Iranian Constitution. Article 42 states that “Foreign nationals can become Iranian citizens within the limits set by the law. Their nationality may be revoked if another nation offers them citizenship or that person demands such a revocation”. 4.2.3. Fraudulent Acquisition of Nationality As mentioned above, an Iranian convicted of the highest criminal charges may not under any circumstances be deprived of Iranian nationality. This leads to the following question: what if a person is found to have acquired Iranian citizenship fraudulently? Legal scholars have answered this question in two different ways; Some believe that despite the repealing of Article 981 of the Civil Code, the Iranian government should be able to revoke the acquired citizenship of such a person. However, referring to the repeal of Article 981 of the Civil Code, some argue that the government has no right to revoke an individual’s citizenship115. It seems that according to the provisions of Articles 41 and 42 of the Constitution as well as intentional omission of Article 981 of the Civil Code -which was in contradiction with the above-mentioned principlesthere should be no longer any question on this matter. 5. Gender Discrimination 5.1 Transferring Citizenship to Children Gender discrimination has always been one of the most challenging issues under Iranian nationality law. The Iranian Constitution states that “All citizens of the country, both men and women, equally enjoy the protection of the law and enjoy all human, political, economic, social, ‫ ﺣﻘوق ﺑﯾن‬،١٣٧۵، ۴۴‫ ﺟﻼلص‬، ‫اﻟدﯾن ﻣدﻧﯽاﻟﻣﻠل ﺧﺻوﺻﻲ‬. (Jalaledin Madani, International Private Law, Tehran: Ganje Danesh publication, 1996, page 44). Based on existing literature and case law, it seems like this has always been the case in practice. 114 ‫ﻣﺣﻣد ﻧﺻﯾری‬، ‫ﺣﻘوق ﺑﯾن اﻟﻣﻠل ﺧﺻوﺻﯽ‬،١٣٨٣، ٣٩‫ص‬. (Mohamad Nasiri, International Private Law, Tehran: Agah publication, 2004, page 39). 115 ‫ ﺣﻘوق ﺑﯾن‬،١٣٧۵، ۴۴‫ ﺟﻼلص‬، ‫اﻟدﯾن ﻣدﻧﯽاﻟﻣﻠل ﺧﺻوﺻﻲ‬. (Jalaledin Madani, International Private Law, Tehran: Ganje Danesh publication, 1996, page 44); ‫ ﺑﮭﺷﯾد ارﻓﻊ‬، ‫ﺣﻘوق ﺑﯾن اﻟﻣﻠل ﺧﺻوﺻﯽ‬،١٣٧۴، ١١٠‫ﻧﯾﺎص‬. (Behshid Arfania, International Private Law, 5th ed, Tehran: Aqiq publication, 1995, page 110). 113 RSCAS/GLOBALCIT-CR 2020/13 - © 2020 Author(s) 17