Progress slow in Kazemi case

July 29 - From the Toronto Sun, Progress slow in Kazemi case:

Foreign Affairs Minister Bill Graham provided little assurance yesterday that progress is being made in the investigation into the death of a Canadian photojournalist. "What we want to do is make sure that those who are responsible for this tragic death are apprehended and punished for it -- whoever it is," Graham said yesterday of reports the lead prosecutor in Iran was involved.

[...]

"We wish to use the case both to open further democracy in Iran and also the protection of journalists," said Graham, whose son Patrick spent time in Iraq covering the war. But Graham has yet to speak with the Iranian foreign minister or confirm the reports surrounding the arrest of five security officials. (Emphasis added)

By George I think he's got it! Finally. This is, and has always been, the crux of the issue. (Maybe he finally learned the difference between international laws and covenants and why calling on Iran to adhere to a law that doesn't exist or a covenant they haven't signed put Canada's case internationally on shaky ground.)

Graham is expected to meet with Hachemi who has called on the Canadian government to impose trade sanctions, charge the lead Iranian prosecutor with engaging in terrorist activity and involve the International Criminal Court (ICC).

Stephen Hachemi has been relentless in his pursuit of justice. Maybe whenever we start to whine "There's nothing we can do" we should stop short and remember him. He's pulling people together to fight a stone-walling Ayatollocracy (TM Paul), and everyone who believes in freedom of the press should be cheering for him.

Over at the Reporters Without Borders website they are calling on Canada to take the initiative:

Reporters Without Borders urged the Canadian government to take the initiative of setting up an international commission of enquiry and to pressure the Iranian government into accepting the commission.

"It is clear now that only an international enquiry will be able to identify who was involved," [Reporters Without Borders secretary-general Robert] Ménard said. "The Iranian regime clearly has no desire to shed light on this case and prosecute those responsible for this murder."

[...]

A total of 21 journalists are currently in prison in Iran, 13 of whom were arrested in the past 40 days. This makes the Islamic republic the biggest prison for journalists in the Middle East. Thirteen of the detained journalists are being held by Mortazavi's staff and Revolutionary Guards in the same centre where Kazemi was interrogated.

These detainees are denied all rights (such as visits from their lawyer and family) and are kept in deplorable conditions. Reporters Without Borders is very concerned about their fate, especially as their relatives have referred to physical and psychological torture in a letter to President Khatami.

In another statement, they have issued a Call for European Union to break with Iran over journalist's death:

Reporters Without Borders called on the European Union today to break off the "constructive dialogue" it has conducted with Iran since 1998 until officials responsible for the death of Canadian-Iranian photographer Zahra Kazemi earlier this month had been brought to trial.

It said it was "unthinkable" that such talks could continue while such a serious crime remained unpunished. It also called on the EU to back Canadian efforts to have Kazemi's body returned to Canada and for an international commission of enquiry to be set up. (Emphasis added)

[...]

A total of 23 journalists are currently imprisoned in Iran, making it the biggest jail for journalists in the Middle East. Thirteen of them are believed to be held by Mortazavi's department and by the Guardians of the Revolution, in the same place where Kazemi was interrogated. They are not allowed visits from family or lawyers and are held in very bad conditions. Reporters Without Borders is very worried about their plight. Their families have written to President Khatami saying they have been physically and psychologically tortured.

Speaking of Reporters Without Borders, there was a disturbing development at the UN last Thursday:

Reporters Without Borders's consultative status with the United Nations commission on human rights was suspended on July 24 for one year at the request of Libya and Cuba because activists with the organisation staged a protest during the inauguration of the commission's last session in March against the decision to let Libya chair the commission. (Emphasis added)

Reporters Without Borders insists that granting the chair to Col. Gaddafi's regime has been a disgrace to the commission.

[...]

Reporters Without Borders today publishes a report which details the excesses, shortcomings and accelerating decline of this commission, which dictatorships such as Cuba and China have taken over in order to strip it of all substance.

The reports proposes a series of reforms that are essential if the commission is to be rescued : limiting the right to vote to those states that have ratified the main international human rights covenants, naming an independent human rights expert to chair the commission, and abolishing the so-called "non-action" motions that have repeatedly been used to block debates.

The results of the vote on the suspension of the consultative status of Reporters without borders :

In favour (27) : Azerbaijan, Benin, Bhutan, Brazil, Burundi, China, Congo, Cuba, Egypt, Ethiopia, Ghana, India, Iran, Jamaica, Kenya, Libya, Malaysia, Mozambique, Nepal, Nigeria, Pakistan, Qatar, Russian Federation, Saudi Arabia, South Africa, Uganda, and Zimbabwe.

Against (23) : Andorra, Australia, Chile, El Salvador, Finland, France, Georgia, Germany, Greece, Guatemala, Hungary, Ireland, Italy, Netherlands, Nicaragua, Peru, Portugal, Republic of Korea, Romania, Sweden, Ukraine, United Kingdom, and United States.

Abstentions (4) : Argentina, Ecuador, Japan, and Senegal.

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Hachemi calls for case to go before ICC

July 28 - From the Toronto Star, Take case to world court, Kazemi's son says.

MONTREAL - The son of slain photojournalist Zahra Kazemi wants the Canadian government to take the case to the International Criminal Court.

In a letter sent Friday, Stephan Hachemi and lawyer Marlys Edwardh asked Ottawa to charge Saeed Mortazavi, Tehran's chief prosecutor, under the Criminal Code with engaging in "terrorist activity" outside Canada in relation to a Canadian citizen.

"It would seem clear that his conduct was in whole or in part for political, religious, or ideological purposes, etc. to intimidate a segment of the public with regard its security," the letter states.

Hachemi and Edwardh also asked the government to consider imposing trade sanctions against Iran and to use the court to ensure Kazemi's body is brought back to Canada.

Hachemi dismissed reports that five security agents were arrested in Iran this weekend. He called the arrests a "diversion" to throw the Canadian government off track.

"The Iranians have done that in similar cases; they arrest a few implicated agents so they can cover Mortazavi and cover high-ranking officers," Hachemi said yesterday. The International Criminal Court has the power to bring his mother's body back to Canada, he added.

Good for him. Keeping the pressure on both the Canadian and Iranian governments is essential.

(via Neale News because you know I don't read the Toronto Star!)

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Security agents detained in Kazemi death

July 27 - This could be good news. From the Toronto Sun 5 held in Kazemi case:

TEHRAN -- Five Iranian security agents have been detained in the death of a Canadian photojournalist who died in police custody, the state-run Tehran radio reported yesterday. The officers were detained Friday after "comprehensive investigations" into Zahra Kazemi's July 10 death, the radio report said, quoting a statement released by Iran's judiciary.

But the propaganda war goes on:

Meanwhile, the Iran government summoned Canada's charge d'affaires yesterday to protest the shooting death of an Iranian teenager in a Vancouver suburb and the youth's father threatened to sue the police officer who pulled the trigger.

Maybe it's customary in Iran to use a machete to charge someone who's holding a firearm. What's that old joke about bringing a knife to a gunfight? Anyone charging at me with a machete is going to be shot. Period. We call it self-defense.

Gilles Poirier was summoned to Iran's foreign ministry to discuss the July 14 shooting of 18-year-old Keyvan Tabesh by a plainclothes officer in Port Moody, a diplomat said on condition of anonymity. He did not elaborate.

UPDATE: This news may be premature. According to the CBC, Canada waits for Iran to confirm arrests in Kazemi case because they haven't received official confirmation of the arrests from the Iranian government.

Iran's state-run radio reported on the weekend that the men had been rounded up after "comprehensive investigations" into the fatal beating of Zahra Kazemi while she was in police custody. (Emphasis added)

All five had been "in close contact" with her during her detention, the report said. Their identities were not released.

Ottawa said it had not yet received confirmation of the arrests. A spokesperson for the Foreign Affairs Department told CBC News that if true it would be "a welcome development."

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The Iranians sure know Canada

July 26 - I am really angry. From CTV.ca: Graham promises to investigate death of Iranian which was their response to Canadian inquiries about the death of Zahra Kazemi.

This is beyond outrageous and every city and province should condemn it:

Foreign Affairs Minister Bill Graham rejects Iran's comparison of the death of an Iranian teenager in Vancouver (actually, Port Moody) to the killing of a Montreal photojournalist in Tehran, but said he is willing to hold an investigation into the death.

(Emphasis added)

This is so wrong. The Vancouver police are perfectly capable of holding their own inquiry, and "Screeching" Bill Graham (TM Paul) presumes to not only butt in but to implement measures in the inquiry:

Establishing a homicide investigation
Putting the officer involved on leave
Results of investigation will be reported to Crown attorney to see if charges should be laid
Holding a public coroner's inquest into the circumstances of the death
The opportunity for Iranian officials to be present during the investigation
The body of the victim has been returned to Iran

I need a drink. No, really. Words of anger and outrage are choking me but I can't get them out and, after all, how does one sputter indignantly from a keyboard?

I wanted to be wrong when I wrote last Thursday in Counter Punch from Iran that Canada would meekly agree to an investigation.

Anytime a police officer is forced to shoot and kill someone there is automatically a local inquiry held, right? Such inquiries do not, however, fall under the auspices of the Federal government but under the local governments where the use of force occured.

I'm repeating myself because it is an important point; the Vancouver police will doubtless go along because of the international implications, but would it have hurt the Feds to tell Iran that they can attend the inquiry that the Vancouver police will hold? Would it have hurt the Feds to affirm the integrity of Vancouver? Are they really so stupid that they don't recognize that they have just maligned Vancouver?

Canada has just slapped Vancouver in the face by giving the impression internationally that the Feds have to get involved to ensure justice. Arrogant, say-anything-to-appease-at-all-costs idiots.

How do you say "Sell-out" in Canada?

Now for that drink before I get really angry.

Headline and link via Neale News

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Iran 4, Canada 0

July 24 - Iran understands how to play the game by Canadian rules: Iran accuses Canadian police of killing Iranian:

Wire services cited Iranian state radio accusations that police in Vancouver had 'attacked' three young Iranians on Tuesday, and killed one of them identified as Keyvan Tabesh.

A young Iranian emigre was, indeed, killed in Vancouver - although it occurred several weeks ago. Port Moody police say that a young man identified as Mr. Tabesh was shot dead by an out-of-uniform police officer as he ran at the officer waving a machete.

Mr. Tabesh was shot dead after his car was followed into a dead end by a police officer responding to a radio call. With no escape, Port Moody spokesman Constable Brian Soles told The Globe and Mail, two of the occupants of the car jumped out and ran at the policeman. Constable Soles said the officer fired his gun when he felt he was under attack.

Family members have apparently been told that the officer who shot Mr. Tabesh was off-duty; police have conceded that the man was not wearing his uniform and was not driving a marked police car.

"There may be an issue about whether the police officer identified himself," Constable Soles said. "He has a responsibility to do it, if he is able to."

In any case, he added, Mr. Tabesh was about to attack someone.

A Foreign Ministry spokesman in Tehran suggested that there is a lack of freedom in the Canadian media, saying that controls are imposed by the Canadian government and that "the strong censorship of this story creates more ambiguities." (Emphasis added)

The spokesman called for "an explicit and transparent and satisfactory explanation" and the punishment of those responsible, a near-echo of Ottawa's demands in the Kazemi case.

I would say that the Iranian government has effectively employed four of Canada's biggest Achilles heels: the substitution of red-herrings and unsubstantiated accusations for political debate, a weak foreign affairs department, news blackouts in criminal justice proceedings and the attitude of Canadian media toward police agencies.

Even though the deaths of Zahra Kazemi and Keyvan Tabesh are linked only by the fact that both are Iranians killed by police, this accusation turns eyes back to Canada. Canada appears to be the pot calling the kettle black. A nice diversionary tactic!

Iran 1 - Canada 0

The Iranian government has just launched a propaganda war against Canada, and its up to the Foreign Affairs Dept. to mount an effective response. Since the only foreign government it routinely criticizes is the USA, do they have the tools and cajones to respond effectively or will they use Old Europe's model on how to deal with countries other than the USA? French Pres. Chirac just went on vacation but maybe he can be persuaded to lend his expertise in this matter.

Of course, Canada could try to enlist the support of American-based Iranian exiles to broadcast the facts of the Vancouver affair back into Iran, but Canada's good friend Cuba is jamming signals into Iran.

Iran 2 - Canada 0

Unlike American press (heh), information and testimony before and during trials is often blacked out to protect the privacy of the accused. This pious stance conflicts with openness in the judicial system and many Canadian journalists do feel that the suppression amounts to censorship and have stated such.

Iran 3 - Canada 0

The politically correct media and police oversight boards often take the approach that when the police use deadly force it was because they failed in some way to subdue a suspect. They don't, or can't, take into account the frame of mind of someone who is determined to avoid capture, wants to go down fighting, or is blinded by the desire to kill.

I'm betting Canada is going to meekly promise to look into this.

Iran 4 - Canada 0

It has gone international. From Reuters Iran Accuses Canadian Police of Killing Iranian:

TEHRAN (Reuters) - Iran accused Canadian police on Thursday of the "criminal" killing of an Iranian, ratcheting up a diplomatic row that began with the death in Iranian custody of a Canadian journalist this month.

Iranian state media said Canadian police in Vancouver had attacked three young Iranians, killing one and injuring one of the others. It identified the dead man as Keyvan Tabesh and demanded those responsible be brought to justice.

Iran and Canada are at odds over the death in Tehran this month of Zahra Kazemi, 54, a Canadian photojournalist of Iranian descent. Canada recalled its envoy to Tehran over the incident and said it would review its ties with Iran.

"Why have Canadian police, who should safeguard the security of the people, committed this disgraceful crime which scared Iranian citizens living in Canada?" it quoted Foreign Ministry spokesman Hamid Reza Asefi as saying.

There was no immediate comment from Canada. (Emphasis added)

We should cut Canadian Foreign Affairs office some slack here given the difference in time zones. The Globe and Mail story was posted online at 6:03 a.m. EDT.

Iran's state media said the Vancouver incident happened on Tuesday. But Canadian media have reported that Tabesh, 18, was shot and killed by a policeman in the Port Moody suburb of Vancouver on July 14 after an apparent road-rage incident.

Canada's Globe and Mail newspaper in a July 18 article said Tabesh's parents, who live in Vancouver, had strongly criticized police for the shooting of their son. The newspaper said Tabesh was brandishing a machete when he was shot.

[...]

The official IRNA news agency quoted Asefi as saying Canadian media had censored the Vancouver incident. "The strong censorship of this story creates more ambiguities," it quoted him as saying.

Checkmate.

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Mark Steyn on Kazemi

July 23 - Mark Steyn has a new column at his website just for us in Canada SteynOnCanada. His latest is called "Playing Both Sides: The Western Jihadi" and includes:

A couple of weeks later, a Montreal photo journalist, Zahra Kazemi, was arrested by police in Iran [CORRECT] (sic) and wound up getting questioned to death. She had done what my wife recommended - contacted the Canadian Embassy in Tehran - and a lot of good it did her when she was arrested for photographing a student demo and beaten into a coma. By the time her son, frustrated by his government's unruffleable equanimity in the matter, got the story out to the media, it was too late. On hearing of her death, the Canadian Foreign Minister expressed his "sadness" and regret".

Would it have killed him to express a little anger and disgust? ... With a straight face, he passed on to reporters the official Iranian line that it could be just an "accident". According to Reuters, the unfortunate accident has "marred previously harmonious relations between Iran and Canada".

(Via Right On! Blog)

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Canada "asks" for inquiry into Kazemi's death

July 22 - At last, the kitten (TM (The Canadian) meows at the tiger:

Inquiry called into photojournalist's death:

OTTAWA (CP) - Foreign Affairs Minister Bill Graham called on the Iranian government Monday to take swift action against those responsible for the apparent beating death of a Canadian photojournalist after her arrest in Tehran.

"Those responsible for this horrific act must be prosecuted," Graham said after an Iranian government report said Zahra Kazemi, 54, had complained of punishment from her guards before she eventually died of a fractured skull.

"The treatment of Ms. Kazemi, as detailed in this report, was a flagrant violation of her rights under international human rights law and a breach of obligations that Iran owes to the international community," Graham said. (Emphasis added)

"We now ask the Iranian government to take the next step and proceed with the full and swift prosecution of those responsible." (Emphasis added)

Ask? ASK? Oh, that's right, it's a kitten talking to a tiger.

Kazemi died in hospital July 10, nearly three weeks after she was arrested for taking photographs outside a Tehran prison, the report said.

When was the Canadian government notified that she had been arrested, was being detained, and taken to hospital?

Would we even know about this if her son, Stephan Hachemi, not gone public?

After her arrest, she was interrogated by police, prosecutors and intelligence officials for 77 hours, then was taken to the hospital, the report said. She spent 14 days in the intensive care unit of Baqiyatollah Azam Hospital before she died. The hospital is controlled by the Revolutionary Guards, a hardline security force. (Emphasis added)

Would that be the same leather-clad motorcyclists that have been disrupting the demonstrations and kidnapped 3 students after they met with government officials? The ones even the civilian police fear?

She died from a "fractured skull, brain hemorrhage and its consequences resulting from a hard object hitting the head or the head hitting a hard object," said the report.

A translation by Canadian officials said there were no other signs of physical abuse and that the cause of death was a "blow to the head by a hard object and no sign of assault and battery."

[...]

Graham expressed frustration over delays in repatriating Kazemi's body to Canada, despite the "agreed-upon wishes of the family."

I'm so glad he feels empowered to express his feelings. Frustration is a feeling. So is outrage. How about a little outrage, Graham?

On Sunday, prominent reformist legislator Mohsen Armin accused government security agents of beating Kazemi to death, echoing accusations from her family and friends.

Iran's Foreign Ministry spokesman Hamid Reza Asefi said Monday any decision on whether the body should be returned to Canada will rest with the court.

This news report was filed Monday, July 21. The decision was made yesterday, or won't be made until July 28? Since CNN carried this story (without Graham's milquetoast response) on Sunday Report: Canadian photographer died after 'physical attack', I think they mean July 28.

Kazemi's son Stephan Hachemi, who lives in Montreal, called for an autopsy in Canada.

"There's no reason at all to keep the body," Hachemi said on Monday.

"Unfortunately, my mother has been detained while she was alive and now they still detain her while she's dead."

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Zahra Kazemi (cont.)

July 21 - There are overtones in this article about Stephan Hachmi's quest for justice for his mother, Zahra Kazemi (Son: 'Take action' in Iran killing) about the lack of government action that I find very disturbing:

MONTREAL -- Increasingly frustrated and impatient, the son of a Canadian journalist who died after she was beaten while in police custody in Iran said yesterday the federal government is being too passive about helping bring Zahra Kazemi's body home. "I don't like their strategy," Stephan Hachemi said in Montreal.

"I'm criticizing but I've gotten no results. That's the problem. They're saying, 'We're going to have justice', 'The prime minister is going to make justice.' Yes, bravo. I say ... I want them to walk the walk, they just talk the talk. Take action, take measures."

Hachemi, Kazemi's only child, said he's tired of being told by Canadian officials to be patient and to stop being so vocal in the media.

He accused the government of wanting the issue to fade from the public spotlight.

"All I'm asking for is for my rights to be defended," Hachemi, 26, said. "I'm still alive and it's my right to have my mother's body brought back and (the Canadian government) won't defend it. That's what a Canadian means to them. That's how they defend our rights."

Is Chretien worried that making a fuss will hurt his plans to become A Very Important Bureaucrat at the U.N.? Because there certainly aren't any valid reasons for not pressing this issue as hard as he can.

Zahra Kazemi is a photojournalist who was killed in Iran. The fact that she is a Canadian is an opening for this government to push for the human rights of all the journalists now in Iranian prisons, and since, according to the previous article in the Toronto Sun Online Next stop: PM at UN cites

The prime minister's efforts to push a plan tying foreign aid for African nations to their records on human rights and democracy has won him friends on that continent. (Emphasis added)

Chretien's shamlessness is blatant, and I deeply resent the fact that this self-serving hypocrite tars all the good and decent people in Canada.

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Paul means business

July 18 - Frozen in Montreal has an update on the ongoing investigation into the death of Canadian photojournalist Zahra Kazemi in an Iranian prison (or was it in hospital?) That's The Problem with Ayatollocracies..., they never bother to hire anybody to do decent spin ...

He also has an insidious plan that's guaranteed to make the regime tremble.

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Vigil to be held for Kazemi

July 18 - The CBC is keeping the beating death of Zahra Kazemi on the front burner. A report filed today headlines Canadian beaten with shoe before death in Iran and further notes that "A prayer vigil will be held for Kazemi in Montreal on Saturday night."

The report provides no details on the vigil.

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Iran admits beating led to Kazemi's death

July 17 - From CBC News Iran admits beating killed Kazemi:

OTTAWA - Canadian journalist Zahra Kazemi died of a fractured skull, but it may have been an accident, Foreign Affairs Minister Bill Graham said. "

OK, so there is a headline which contradicts the first sentence in the report. That proves I'm copying this from the CBC website, right?

Graham said he learned about her death in "an open and frank exchange" on the phone with Iran's foreign minister, Kamal Kharrazi, on Wednesday.

The dateline on this article is Wed., July 16. Did Graham learn about it a week ago or only yesterday? (Surely that bit of vagueness was unintentional.)

Graham, speaking from France where he is on vacation, said the minister assured him that the perpetrators, if any, would be prosecuted.

He's vacationing in France. Nah, too easy.

Graham said Canada must be satisfied that the Iranian investigation is open and transparent.

Or you'll do what?

"If crimes have been committed, we're pushing the Iranian government to punish those who committed the crime," Prime Minister Jean Chretien said earlier Wednesday. But "we have to know all the facts" before acting, he added.

Chretien wants facts, not proof. How many facts does he need before a thing is proven? He too is promising to act after we know all the facts, but what will happen if we don't know the facts? Since not enough facts means it will be unproven, does that mean we won't act? Is there a loophole here? Where's my aspirin?

Skeptical reporters repeatedly asked Graham how he could trust the Iranians, since democratic reformers led by President Mohammad Khatami are struggling with conservative Islamic militants.

Could some of those skeptical reporters possibly be from the CBC? (Not that I blame them for being actutely interested in this issue; any Canadian news agency should be alarmed at the limpid response of the Feds.)

Graham acknowledged there is a concern "whether or not the secret police and security services ... will follow the orders of the government," but Kharrazi left him with the impression that the government wants to ensure the law prevails.

NOTE: Ellipses! Did they Dowdize the quote? Heh.

We already know that there is an ongoing power struggle in Iran between moderate reformers and hardline Islamic mullahs. The elected, moderate reformers pass laws and the unelected mullahs strike them down. We also know that the hardliners have their own security forces which use weapons of fear and surprise, have fanatical devotion to the mullahs, wear nifty black leather jackets and face scarves, ride motorcycles, and kidnap people. Sheesh, even the Iranian civilian police are afraid to confront them.

Just how long has Graham been on vacation, anyway? I'll take Mel [mayor of Toronto] Lastman's rant at the W.H.O. over Graham's lily-livered, submissive behaviour any day. Mel may have been incoherent, but at least he was OUTRAGED.

Graham repeatedly said the Iranian investigation must be given time to run its course, which could take several days. If Canada is not satisfied, Graham said the government will act, though he didn't say what the government would do.

Again the ominous threat of unspecified action after an unspecified number of days/weeks/months/years.

Here's a simple question: where's the body? Despite repeated calls for Zahra Kazemi's remains to be returned to Canada for an autopsy, there have been conflicting reports as to whether she has already been buried.

Graham said the authorities have the body. Despite Iranian reports that the body will not be returned to Canada, Graham said "that's not what the foreign minister said to me."

So what did the foreign minister say to Graham? Either Graham doesn't say or the CBC doesn't report it.

He [Graham] said there appears to be a dispute between Kazemi's son and her mother. Hachemi wants his mother returned to Canada. His grandmother wants her buried in Iran.

Appears to be a dispute? How clear does the son have to be to make it clear that there is a dispute?

Graham said the body will stay with the Iranian authorities until the family works out what it wants done.

ASIDE: I feel cheated. There isn't a single death quote in the entire article. I wanted death quotes and ellipses.

Maybe Graham should read the CNN webpage which reports:

Kazemi's only son, Stephan Hachemi, who lives in Montreal, said Iran's government had acknowledged his mother had "been beaten to death."

Hachemi has demanded Iran return Kazemi's body to Canada and disputed a report from IRNA that Kazemi's mother, who lives in Iran, has requested she be buried in Shiraz.(Emphasis added)

"My grandmother wants exactly the same as I do, to have the body of Zahra Kazemi to be brought back to Canada," he said, adding that his grandmother was "under a lot of pressure" and was "forced" to make a "false declaration."

"It has been clear between us and all the members of the family that (Kazemi) won't be buried in the land of the people that murdered her," Hachemi said. "She belongs with me, her only child."

Well said! I doubt there is anyone in Canada who doesn't agree with him (what with Graham being in France and all!)

The CNN webpage also states:

Canadian Deputy Prime Minister John Manley earlier warned that the issue could be a "setback" for his country's neutral relationship with Iran.

What constitutes a "setback" in a neutral relationship? Is he saying that this issue could move Canada's relationship with Iran to something other than neutral, like maybe not-neutral? It's unlikely relations would become either hostile or friendly, right?

Paul Martin, who is in an undisclosed location, has been typically silent on this subject.

UPDATE: David Warren weighs in on the Zahra Kazemi case and points out the sad, sad truth about whether travelling under a Canadian Passport offers any protection:

I wish it did, but it doesn't. As long-time Canadian travellers know, if you get into trouble abroad, you go to the American embassy, or the British, or the Australian, whichever's nearest. The Canadian who uses his own embassy to do anything more than renew his passport, or perhaps collect mail, is inexperienced. He shouldn't be travelling in dangerous places.

No blogger in Canada (or the USA) should let the government off the hook on this.

The Canadian also adds his voice:

"The Bill Grahams in our government can huff and puff all they like but they are kittens amongst tigers - and the tigers know it!"

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Canadian photojournalist death due to beating

July 16 - Journalist was beaten:

TEHRAN (CP) - Iran confirmed Wednesday that Iranian-born Canadian journalist Zahra Kazemi died of a brain hemorrhage due to blows she sustained.

Officials for Foreign Affairs Minister Bill Graham and his department also were unavailable for comment.

But Tanya Churchmuch, the Canadian president of Reporters Without Borders, said "an awful lot of lies were told over the last few days. It confirms what we really always knew."

Also Tuesday, Amnesty International joined calls by Iran's Islamic Human Rights Commission and other rights organizations for an independent investigation into Kazemi's death.

One would think Foreign Affairs Minister Bill Graham would at least comment on that if only to whisper his support for the investigation.

[President Mohammad] Khatami has said the closure of more than 90 newspapers without trial in the past three years and imprisonment of several dozens of writers and activists in mostly closed trials without jury by the hard-line judiciary were open violations of the constitution, but said he was "powerless" to stop them.

Zahra Kazemi was a Canadian citizen. That means her beating death while under detention is a matter for the Candian government to investigate and protest. The support of NGOs is welcome, but they shouldn't have to take the lead in this matter.

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