Categories: Need to know

Canadian embassy in Tehran won’t provide shelter to Iranians

Foreign Affairs rebuffs Ignatieff’s request to create a safe haven

by macleans.ca on Monday, June 22, 2009 12:09pm - 4 Comments

Liberal leader Michael Ignatieff is calling for Canada’s embassy in Tehran to offer refuge to those injured in the protests gripping Iran. However, Foreign Affairs spokesperson Simone MacAndrew said “Canada does not offer asylum to individuals in its embassies abroad” except in exceptional circumstances involving an “immediate threat of injury or death.” Meanwhile, a Canadian journalist for the U.S.-based Newsweek was reported by the magazine to have been “detained without charge” during Saturday’s massive protests in Tehran. Maziar Bahari has been reporting from Iran for the past decade and is one of at least 24 journalists and bloggers arrested as part of a crackdown on protesters and media.

The Canadian Press

Tags: Canada

http://intensedebate.com/people/MacCross MacCross

People being shot at for protesting an election that was a clear sham sounds like an "exceptional circumstance" to me.
http://crystalregibson.blogspot.com Crystal

This entire situation is heartbreaking; the images and video that have been leaked to us here are more than exceptional. I can't believe Ignatieff had to ask.
Don

I can't believe anyone would believe that they could do it. This is, unfortuneately, an internal problem and we can't interfere because of international laws.
http://wakinguponplanetx.blogspot.com Candace

What wasn't said in this post was said elsewhere – the Canadian embassy is located where the demonstrations take place, and has been closing early so staff could get home before the demonstrators (and police, etc) showed up. It was closed on Saturday.

Canada is not far behind the US as a Great Satan to the Iranian regime; they haven't forgiven (or forgotten) our aid to the US embassy hostages during their last revolution. Quite possibly, Iranian citizens seen entering or leaving our embassy, in the midst of the demonstrations, might get them in more trouble.