Slain journalist’s son pressing to sue Iran
OTTAWA — The son of a Canadian photojournalist who was tortured and slain in Iran is asking the Supreme Court of Canada for permission to sue the Iranian government and those responsible for the atrocities he says his mother suffered.
Stephan Hashemi says he wants to get justice for Zahra Kazemi.
Lawyers for Hashemi as well as several human rights groups argued before the high court that under the United Nations convention on torture, Canada must ensure there is a civil remedy for victims of torture so they can be compensated. Canada is a signatory to the convention.
Kurt Johnson, who represents Hashemi and the estate of his mother, told the seven justices that the law on state immunity denies access to justice and is therefore unconstitutional.
That was echoed by Francois Larocque, the lawyer for human rights organization Amnesty International, who considered the state immunity law absurd.
“It’s hard to believe that in 2014 the impersonal dignity of the state is paramount to the inherent dignity of the human being,” he said.
Kazemi was arrested in Iran, her home country, while photographing demonstrations outside Evin Prison in Tehran in 2003. She was thrown in jail where she was tortured and raped before being killed that same year.
Hashemi had already filed an action in Quebec Superior Court in Montreal against Iran’s Islamic republic, its head of state and chief prosecutor as well as the former deputy intelligence chief of the prison where Kazemi was held.
Iran then filed a motion to dismiss the action on the basis that Canadian law on state immunity prevents a foreign country from being prosecuted on Canadian soil.
The Government of Canada intervened to defend the validity of the law before the Supreme Court. The government says that recognizing state immunity doesn’t mean it approves of torture.
Government lawyer Bernard Letarte said the validity of the law is “necessary for the stability of international relations.”