by arthur Weinreb, associate Editor,
July 19, 2004
The government of Iran has announced that they will not allow Canadian observers to be present at the trial of the Iranian security agent who has been charged in the death of Zhara Kazemi.
Kazemi, 54, a resident of Montreal who held both Canadian and Iranian citizenship, was arrested outside of Evin prison in Tehran on June 23, 2003 while she was taking pictures of student-led demonstrations. The photo journalist died in custody 18 days later.
at first Iranian officials said that she had died in prison as a result of suffering a stroke. Later they admitted that her death was caused by severe beatings inflicted shortly after her arrest. Officials later charged a security agent with "semi-intentional murder" whatever that means and the government promised that Canadian observers would be allowed to be present at his trial. Then, shortly before the trial was to commence, the Iranian government reneged on their promise. The government of Iran didn’t even have the courtesy to advise Canada about the reversal of their decision--Minister of Foreign affairs, Bill Graham, found out about it through the media.
Graham was angry.
Graham was fuming.
Graham was outraged.
There is nothing humourous about a Canadian citizen getting pummeled to death in a Middle Eastern prison so we’ll leave the picture of the mild-mannered Graham stomping his foot, waving his arms, turning red and showing his outrage for another time. Graham recalled Canada’s ambassador to Iran and is threatening sanctions against the Islamic republic. No doubt the Iranians are shaking in their sandals.
Bill Graham is one of the most prominent internationalists in the cabinet of Paul Martin. He’s a one-worlder who would gladly cede all of Canada’s sovereignty to the United Nations for the good and well-being of the planet. He has, like many of those on the left, taken the principle that all people are equal and extended it to all countries and all societies and cultures are equal. The Minister expects that the government Iran will act like a democracy would act and then is shocked and outraged when they don’t.
after Iran’s decision, Graham was quoted as saying that, "Justice will not be done behind closed doors in Iran". Well, you don’t have to be a prominent professor of law as Bill Graham was to understand the principle that justice must be seen to be done in order to be done. Why Graham is fuming is that he has some twisted notion that Iran is seeking Canadian-style justice. Stephan Hachemi, Kazemi’s son and a resident of Montreal believes that Tehran’s chief prosecutor, Saeed Mortazawi, is the real killer and that the security agent was charged simply to placate Canada. Hachemi’s view of who beat his mother to death is shared by many reformists in Iran. The reality is that it cannot be assumed that Iran is seeking justice and whether this show trial is held in the open or not really doesn’t matter.
Graham is a strong advocate of "soft power" that was cemented in Canada’s foreign policy by former Liberal Foreign affairs Minister, Lloyd axworthy. Soft power rejects the notion not only of war, but credible threats of war as being something that has been held over from a more unenlightened period. There is no international problem that can’t be solved by sitting down and discussing it. If we can only give a big hug to Saddam, Osama and Fidel and sit them down, we can make them understand that what they are doing is wrong and they will come around to our way of thinking. This is the prominent strategy of the United Nations and internationalists. They are the ones who kept the fax machines burning while 800,000 Rwandans were butchered 10 years ago. Bill Graham and his fellow travellers are extremely naïve in believing that all other countries share the same values that we do and then they have temper tantrums when they don’t.
The Kazemi incident is not something that Canada should go to war with Iran over. But the government of Iran has realized that no serious consequences can arise over their behaviour that includes their refusal to send Kazemi’s body back to Canada. Canada has no power that can force or convince Iran to do the right thing.
When he finally calms down and talks this over with his Liberal Party buddies, Bill might want to think about whether the dumb cowboy in the White House was right when he included Iran in the axis of evil.