Kazemi's son wants Canada to take action against Iran
Last Updated Mon, 23 May 2005 19:20:04 EDT
CBC News
MONTREAL - Zahra Kazemi's son says he's not surprised the Iranian government is warning Canada to stop interfering in his mother's case.


Zahra Kazemi
The Montreal photojournalist was killed in Tehran two years ago, 17 days after being detained by Iranian authorities.

The Canadian government has said it would limit relations with the country until details surrounding Kazemi's death are clarified. But Iran's foreign ministry is now criticizing Canada for having an "immature" attitude.

A spokesperson is quoted as saying Zahra Kazemi's death is a domestic affair since she was an Iranian citizen, and that pressure will not bring about solutions.

Kazemi's son, Stephan Hashemi, says Canada isn't doing enough to seek justice for his mother.

Hashemi says "it's time to go to the International Court of Justice," in The Hague, and he wants to be able to sue the Iranian government in a Canadian court.

The case is expected to be heard in an Iranian court of appeal on July 25. But Hashemi says that case only targets the people accused of killing his mother, not the authorities who gave the order to beat her.


What are your thoughts on this?
I find the iranians to be very arrogant about this, "warning us" to stay out of an issue involving one of our citizens, and i dont understand why they are "warning us" i mean what are they going to do about it if we dont stay out of it...i mean what can they possibly do lol?! Maybe my understanding of this whole thing is very limited but i dont understand why they dont just cooperate is it so damn hard?

The thing that bothers me about this is that once somebody leaves Canada, they are subject to local authorities and no longer guarented the protection and rights that the Canadian government grants people.

Iran is a foriegn country and what the Iranian government choses to do within it's own borders is stricktly up to them.

As much as it is a tragedy, there is only so much that can be done when something like this.

Adding political pressure is the most that can be done in this situation. The rest is up to the Iranians.

There is an additional complication. The fact that she was an Iranian citizen makes a big difference. Other governments generally take the position that it's no other country's business how they treat their own citizens. Just because she has dual citizenship makes no difference.

true but since she is our citizen to do we not have the right to care about one of our citizens regardless of her dual citizenship?

^ Usually the home country's citizenship overrules the Canadian one though. Not many countries recognize dual citizenship.

true but since she is our citizen to do we not have the right to care about one of our citizens regardless of her dual citizenship?

Yes we do, but this is a very difficult issue - and not just with Iran.

Unfortunately, the attitude that the best we can do is to apply political pressure is pretty much the truth. What else can we do? Moreover, what else are we willing to do? I have no faith in the Iranian politicos to actually do anything but give us some window dressing to look at but then again, this is precisely why the world tends to ostracize Iran to begin with. I hope for the best for her family and that the case will indeed find it's way into the international court but even then, the outcome will hardly be final no matter what the ruling.

Simply put, the only people who seem to care are Canadians and Iran has no reason to care what we think anyway. Just the truth no matter how crass it may seem.