Canada "mending" diplomatic relations with Iran

Nov. 25 - Canada withdrew her ambassador to Iran last July to protest Iran's failure to bring justice to Zahra Kazemi's killers but it was announced that Gordon Venner will assume duties as Canada's ambassador to Iran.

Despite the request of her son, Stephan Hachemi, and Canada's backing of that request, Kazemi's body has not been returned to Canada and thus an independent autopsy was never performed.

Why resume diplomatic relations after Iran killed a Canadian citizen?

NDP MP Alexa McDonough said Canada is better served by having a diplomatic presence in Iran.

"It's certainly clear that the Iranian government has not satisfactorily addressed the Kazemi fiasco, but at the same time, when there's an empty chair there's no dialogue ..."

Jean Chretien was prime minister when Kazemi was "interrogated to death" (per Mark Steyn) and his outrage seems to have eased after he left office and vanished entirely when he decided to visit Iran:

Mr. Chretien, now a private citizen, will travel to Iran next month to meet top Iranian government officials.

But Mr. Chretien isn't there to seek justice for Ms. Kazemi. Nor will he speak for the dozens of Iranians rotting in jails for the crime of believing Iran should have the same democracy Canadians enjoy.

Instead, Mr. Chretien is going to Iran as a "special adviser" to the Calgary oil company PetroKazakhstan, which wants to ship Kazakh oil to China and Iran. His job is to convince the Iranians that this is a good idea.

He succeeded.

Posted by: Debbye at 08:04 AM | No Comments | Add Comment
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