Canada recalls its ambassador to Iran; calls Kazemi's trial 'unacceptable'

Canadian Press
July 19, 2004

TORONTO (CP) - Canada was recalling it's ambassador to Iran hours after the
country's hardline judiciary barred foreign diplomats and media from
attending the trial of a secret agent charged with murdering
Iranian-Canadian photojournalist, Zahra Kazemi, Foreign Minister Bill
Graham said Sunday.

"I am disappointed but not surprised by this flagrant denial of due
process. Ambassador MacKinnon will be returning to Canada
immediately," Graham said in a statement.

Iran's hardline judiciary on Sunday abruptly ended the trial and the Nobel
Peace Prize laureate Shirin Ebadi, who leads a four-member legal team
representing Zahra Kazemi's mother, said the lawyers refused to sign the
bill of indictment and walked out of the courthouse in protest.


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