June 22, 2018
In a stunning action, the Canadian House of Commons has voted to halt all efforts to resume diplomatic relations with Iran.
The legislation was proposed by the opposition Conservative Party, which severed relations with Iran in 2012 when it ran the government. A minister of the governing Liberal Party criticized the legislation during debate June 11. The bill came up for a vote the next day. When the speaker asked for the bill’s supporters to stand up and be counted, the Conservative side of the House stood up almost unanimously.
Then, to everyone’s shock, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau—who had campaigned in 2015 on a pledge to resume diplomatic relations with Iran—stood up. Next, his fellow cabinet members stood up. Finally, almost all the Liberal Party members stood up and the bill passed overwhelmingly. The vote was 248 to 45 with the 45 other members not voting
The House has two Iranian-Canadian members. Both are Liberals. Neither of them participated in the vote.
It turned out that between the Monday debate and the Tuesday vote, Trudeau’s cabinet met and decided to support the Conservative Party’s legislation.
Trudeau’s government has spent 2-1/2 years in talks with Iran about re-establishing relations. They have gone nowhere. No one has said what the problem is, but the presumption is that Iran is demanding concessions from Canada that Trudeau is unwilling to meet.
The vote indicated that Trudeau has had it with Iran.
Canada’s relations with Iran plummeted in 2003 when Iranian-Canadian Zahra Kazemi died after being tortured in Evin Prison. She was a freelance photographer who was arrested for taking pictures outside Evin. Iran never cooperated with Canada in trying to resolve how she died. Canada, then under a Liberal Party government, took up the issue of human rights in Iran and ever since then has been the primary sponsor and advocate of the annual UN resolutions condemning Iran’s human rights conduct. Iran has responded by attacking Canada’s human rights record and loudly talking up the mistreatment of Canada’s indigenous peoples.
In recent weeks, relations have plummeted yet again—this time over Iran’s refusal to allow Iranian-Canadian Maryam Mombeini, widow of a dual national who died in Evin in January, to leave Iran and return to Canada.
Canadian Foreign Affairs Minister Chrystia Freeland said days before the House of Commons vote that her ministry had ceased talking to Iran about anything other than Mombeini and was not prepared to conduct any other business until Mombeini was safe in Canada, where both of her adult sons live.
Three weeks before the vote in Parliament, Freeland telephoned her Iranian counterpart and demanded he let Mombeini leave Iran. After months of requests from Canada, Foreign Minister Javad Zarif finally agreed to speak with Freeland by phone May 22.
Speaking to a parliamentary committee June 6, Freeland said that during the call she demanded Iran release Mombeini.
“Any contact that Canada has with Iran has to be focused on the terrible plight of Maryam Mombeini. She is a widow, she is a Canadian citizen, her sons are in Canada and she has not only had to live through the terrible and tragic death of her husband, but she is now barred from leaving Iran,” Freeland said.
Iran barred the widow from leaving on March 8 when she tried to flee the country with her adult sons after her husband, Kavous Seyed-Emami, died in prison.
Prof. Seyed-Emami, who taught sociology at a Tehran university and directed a wildlife foundation, was arrested at the end of January on what his family says were unsubstantiated allegations of spying.
The Seyed-Emami family – all Iranian-Canadian citizens – decided to flee Iran because they were facing harassment, threats and smear campaigns for rejecting Iranian authorities’ insistence that Prof. Seyed-Emami died by suicide.
However, Iranian authorities confiscated Mombeini’s Iranian passport at the airport, moments before she was scheduled to board a Vancouver-bound flight with her sons. She told her sons to board the plane without her and has not been allowed to leave Iran since.
Canada halted discussions over resuming relations in March when Mombeini was barred from leaving the country. The Globe and Mail reported before the dramatic vote that the Trudeau government had already decided not to resume talks on resuming relations until Mombeini is allowed to leave Iran.
In that sense, Trudeau’s support for the Conservative bill was a logical way to send a dramatic message to Iran. The legislation is a resolution, so it is non-binding.
One of Mombeini’s sons, Ramin Seyed-Emami, has said the intelligence arm of the Pasdaran – the same agency that arrested his father in January – has opened a national-security case against his mother. He said the case is centered on accusations of espionage.
Last month, Mombeini was admitted to a hospital after suffering anxiety attacks stemming from her ordeal.
The language approved by the House of Commons includes a condemnation of Supreme Leader Ali Khamenehi for advocating “genocide against the Jewish people.” Khamenehi has never taken such a position.
The text of the language approved by the House follows:
“That the House: (a) strongly condemn the current regime in Iran for its ongoing sponsorship of terrorism around the world, including instigating violent attacks on the Gaza border; (b) condemn the recent statements made by Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei calling for genocide against the Jewish people; (c) call on the government to (i) immediately cease any and all negotiations or discussions with the Islamic Republic of Iran to restore diplomatic relations, (ii) demand that the Iranian Regime immediately release all Canadians and Canadian permanent residents who are currently detained in Iran, including Maryam Mombeini, the widow of Professor Kavous Sayed-Emami, and Saeed Malekpour, who has been imprisoned since 2008; and (d) stand with the people of Iran and recognize that they, like all people, have a fundamental right to freedom of conscience and religion, freedom of thought, belief, opinion, and expression, including freedom of the press and other forms of communication, freedom of peaceful assembly, and freedom of association.”