Coll 28/67 ‘Persia. Annual Reports, 1932–’ [‎47v] (94/644)

(B) Legislation.
Marriage Law, September 24, 1931 (Mehr Mah 1, 1310).
533. Regulations drawn up by the Ministry of Justice under this law
provide that no marriage can take place between a foreign man and a Persian
woman without the authority of the competent Persian authority. The compet ent
Persian authority in Persia is the Governor-General or Governor of the distr?^*^
in which the marriage is intended to take place, and, abroad, the Persian
diplomatic or consular officer. A foreigner applying for permission to marry
a Persian woman is required to produce—
(a) A consular certificate of no impediment.
{b) A satisfactory proof of means.
{c) An undertaking that he intends to reside permanently in Persia.
With regard to requirement (c), insistence thereon is, in practice, confined to cases
where the foreigner is of the poorer working-class. Instructions were issued to
His Majesty’s consular officers in Persia in the matter of the issue of no
impediment certificates.
Persian Nationality Law.
534. The failure of a few British subjects of European descent and of the
majority of British-protected persons (principally from the Kurram Agency An office of the East India Company and, later, of the British Raj, headed by an agent.
Territory) to take steps to renounce under supplementary article 1 the Persian
nationality acquired by them under article 1 of the parent law, necessitated the
extension of facilities for this purpose. Eventually representations by His
Majesty’s Minister to the Ministry for Foreign Affairs resulted in a promise by
the Persian Government to entertain c ‘ sympathetically ’ ’ applications under
article 13 of the law by “ Persian subjects,” to be released from their Persian
nationality for the purpose of “ acquiring ” a foreign nationality. Instructions
were issued to His Majesty’s consular officers in Persia as to the procedure to be
followed for the taking of declarations, and the issue of certificates, of British
nationality to enable applicants to submit their petitions to the appropriate
Persian authority. The matter was somewhat complicated by the fact that the
Persian Government formulated objections to the use of the phrase ££ British-
protected person,” as applied to certain categories of British nationals, especially
in regard to that large colony of natives of the Kurram Agency An office of the East India Company and, later, of the British Raj, headed by an agent. Territory, and
of the State of Jammu and Kashmir, who live in the Caspian provinces. It has
now been decided, in the case of these natives, to call them respectively:
(1) Nationals of the British Protected Territory of Kurram; (2) subjects of the
Indian State of Jammu and Kashmir.
(C) Processes in the Courts against British Subjects.
535. The proceedings against Philip Penning appear to have faded away,
as he has not served any sentence and is at large. It is understood that the Jew
merchant whom he defrauded despaired of getting any pecuniary compensation
out of Penning, and tired of paying court and other fees, has dropped any active
part in prosecuting his case.
536. The case, referred to in paragraph 439 of the annual report for 1931,
brought against Dr. V. St. George Vaughan, dragged its course, and on the
6th May the Shiraz Court of Appeal finally acquitted Dr. Vaughan of the charges
of negligence brought against him.
537. Various Indian British subjects were prosecuted during the year for
smuggling and cognate offences, mostly in East Persia. Narain Singh, a well-
known seditionist, was one of these, and was brought to Tehran, where the
proceedings were unfinished at the end of the year. The case of an Indian
engine-driver, Moses Joseph, who was detained for over five months without
being brought to trial on a charge of being responsible for a railway accident
at Ahwaz, was the subject of vigorous representations to the Ministry for Foreign
Affairs.
538. A British motor driver named Martin, who had killed a Kurdish boy
on the Paitaq Pass, was detained at Kermanshah for about a month, but the
public prosecutor finally decided not to bring a charge.