Kazemi - Zahra Kazemi was

Kazemi - Zahra Kazemi was a Iranian native, and a citizen of Canada.

She was also a photographer. She went back to her native Iran to document the human rights abuses of the theocracy.

She became one of those abuses, after being beaten to death by a group of pro-regime thugs.

David Warren writes about the murder...

The very people who hired the thugs to pummel Ms Kazemi until she was comatose, and would die of a brain haemorrhage -- thugs themselves too stupid to check if she were a foreign national first -- are hardly going to prosecute themselves. (The Iranian vice-president, Mohammad Ali Abtahi, at least had the candour to admit how she died.) The most we will get from them is a few scapegoats offered up to appease our fury. And that, only after unrelenting pressure from our Foreign Affairs Ministry, or a send-up in the international media (and this story has had no wings beyond our own borders).

But he writes even more tellingly about the reaction of the Canadian government - which is, after all, among those doing its best to appease the theocracy, in the name of "Dialogue" and "Peace":

In this case Mr. Graham, who doubles as a politician, was caught somewhat by surprise. Only when he gets home will he discover that he's a bit out of tune with the electorate on this one; and then the little fellow will start puffing and jumping and fuming against the "lack of co-operation" he will be continuing to receive from the Iranian side. It will be funny to watch, as when your kitten arches up and attacks your ankle...

... What we can do is open our eyes. Canada (as France and several other European countries) has gone to great lengths to maintain good relations with the Iranian theocracy, to advance trade and encourage "dialogue". We have publicly rejected the American, confrontationist position. In the name of Zahra Kazemi, it is time to switch sides.

The whole thing is short, and very much worth a read.

Posted by Mitch at July 17, 2003 09:38 AM