Zahra Kazemi

The Globe and Mail editorial today tells us “Iran should welcome observers at the trial”.

First a little background. Canadian/Iranian photojournalist, Zahra Kazemi was arrested while she was covering a story on student protests outside of Tehran’s Evin prison in June 2003. Evin prison is used to house and punish political dissenters. Zahra Kazemi died as a result of a fractured skull and brain hemorrhage while being interrogated in an Iranian prison by Mohammed Reza Aghdam Ahmadi. Mr. Ahmadi is charged with “semi-premediated murder”. Semi-premediated murder sounds like an oxymoron, like being only slightly pregnant.


And I quote:

“In a country known for the factional intrigue between reformist and conservative Islamic elements, the truth will be hard to come by without a full airing of all available evidence. The question hanging over the trial that starts Saturday is whether the proceedings will be fair and thorough. If Iran were to allow Canadian observers in the courtroom, it would do much to dispel doubt and suspicion. Yet Foreign Minister Bill Graham said this week that the Iranians have not replied to Canada's requests for observer status, and that the silence indicates refusal.”

The Globe and Mail should know better and do better than trying to be the Canadian journalistic wing of the Canadian Ministry of Foreign Affairs.

In the editorial, readers are advised that Bill Graham, Canadian Minister of Foreign Affairs sent a letter to Iran’s foreign minister.

"The Canadian government knows that you and President [Mohammed] Khatami are committed to the rule of law and respect for human rights. Therefore, we count on justice to be rendered in a credible and transparent manner, and we will regard the handling of the trial as a signal of the depth of the Government of Iran's commitment to human rights."

The Mullahs have responded with silence to Mr. Graham’s letter. Though previously, Iran had said it objects to journalists or Canadian government observers in the courtroom because one of their citizens was killed in Canada after he was holding a machete on a police officer.

Iran is a full-fledged, dues paying member in the Axis of Evil. Iran has prisons to house political dissenters. Two Iranian intelligence agents were caught in the act of rigging a car bomb last week in Iraq. But “The Canadian government knows that you and President [Mohammed] Khatami are committed to the rule of law and respect for human rights.”

I want all national newspapers to call a spade, a spade, and mean what it says. I want a government that takes swift decisive action when one of our citizens is arrested and murdered while in detention of a foreign nation. I want the Canadian government to say mean what it means, and means what it says in a forth right manner. No more wobbling on the fence. No more humming and hawing. The time for that has passed and it ended on September 11, 2001.