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| Syria-Lebanon-Iran |
| Eyewitness feared retribution |
| 2005-04-02 |
| Once Dr. Shahram Azam left Iran to tell his story of how Zahra Kazemi was brutally raped and tortured inside a Tehran prison, he knew it wouldn't take long for Iranian agents to track him down. That made his asylum request to Canada all the more urgent. "We took his case very seriously," said a Canadian official who worked on the file. "The Iranians were almost on his track and the life of Dr. Azam was becoming highly endangered and he could not have stayed in Sweden for much longer without witness protection." Dr. Azam fled Iran for Sweden in August, 2004, but he wasn't convinced he would be safe there and wanted Canada to accept him, his wife and 12-year-old daughter as government-sponsored refugees. At a news conference in Ottawa this week, Dr. Azam gave the first account by a medical eyewitness of the brutal injuries Ms. Kazemi suffered after her June 23, 2003, arrest. His account contradicted the official Iranian explanation of the Canadian photojournalist's death — that she died after fainting and hitting her head. Dr. Azam's fear of remaining in Europe was bolstered by the low acceptance rates of Iranian refugees there, as well as by a long and dangerous history of dissidents being assassinated. According to human-rights and Iranian opposition groups, between 60 and 100 Iranian dissidents were killed in the two decades after the 1979 Islamic revolution, mainly in Europe and the Middle East. And while assassinations of non-violent dissidents appear to have abated in recent years, Iranian secret police attacked an Iranian political science professor and pro-democracy advocate last year in Quetta, Pakistan, where he had sought refuge. Rest at link |
| Posted by:ed |
| #3 I've a feeling he won't be much safer in Canada. But, unlike Europe, they will express regret should he be assassinated. |
| Posted by: Pappy 2005-04-02 6:42:31 PM |
| #2 Dr. Azam’s fear of remaining in Europe was bolstered by the low acceptance rates of Iranian refugees there, as well as by a long and dangerous history of dissidents being assassinated. How reassuring. Seeking asylum from Mad Mullahs? Don't go to Europe. |
| Posted by: Bomb-a-rama 2005-04-02 4:27:52 PM |
| #1 And the Canadian Govt wants do deal with these thugs? Dhimmi North. |
| Posted by: Alaska Paul 2005-04-02 4:24:45 PM |