On July 16, Minister of Foreign Affairs William Graham recalled Canada’s ambassador in Iran and raised the possibility of imposing economic sanctions against Tehran as retaliation for the burial of Kazemi’s body in Iran. Ottawa demanded that her remains be repatriated to Canada.

Zahra Kazemi, 53, was apprehended June 23 as she was taking pictures of a demonstration in front of the Evin jail in northern Tehran by parents demanding the release of their children arrested during protests earlier that month.

According to a report issued July 20 by five ministers of the Iranian government, she was beaten by cops and security officials while interrogated. On June 27, Kazemi was declared brain dead by doctors who kept her artificially alive. Her death was officially announced July 10.

Kazemi’s death has become a football in the ongoing fight between the two main contending factions in the Iranian government. The report on her beating was ordered by Iranian president Mohammad Khatami, head of the so-called reformist wing. The police, other repressive forces, and the courts are controlled by the so-called conservative clerics.

The day Graham recalled Canada’s ambassador to Iran and threatened additional economic sanctions, the Montreal daily La Presse published an editorial calling on the federal government to expel all 16 Iranian diplomats in Ottawa and break diplomatic relations with Iran.

A similar editorial in the July 25 Toronto Star stated: “Canada imports millions of dollars worth of luxury goods from Iran each year. We can get along with fewer Persian carpets, and less caviar and pistachio nuts, if Iran doesn’t co-operate. And we don’t have to continue hosting Iranian students here.” According to the paper, 1,200 Iranian post-secondary students study in Canada each year.

On July 24, the Iranian foreign ministry charged the Canadian government with the murder of Iranian-Canadian teenager Keyvan Tabesh, killed near Vancouver, British Columbia. According to the police, Tabesh, 18, was shot July 14 by a cop in civilian clothes after the teenager allegedly ran at him with a machete. Witnesses said the cop was driving an unmarked car and never identified himself.  
 
 
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