Maziar Bahari, Canadian, Arrested in Iran

[August1991]

A Canadian journalist working in Iran for Newsweek magazine was detained without charge by Iranian authorities Sunday, the magazine said, adding that Maziar Bahari had not been heard from since.

"Newsweek strongly condemns this unwarranted detention, and calls upon the Iranian government to release him immediately," the New York-based weekly news magazine said in a statement.

AFP

Here is an example of a recent report that he wrote for Newsweek:

By Maziar Bahari | Newsweek Web Exclusive

Jun 3, 2009 | Updated: 12:58 p.m. ET Jun 3, 2009

"I'm going to vote for Mousavi on June 12," says Ali. If he were a student activist or a reformist politician, that wouldn't be a surprising declaration. But Ali is a 52-year-old member of the Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corps, and has been since the 1980s.

Newsweek

----

There are many Canadian citizens in Iran and the Canadian government will no doubt soon face numerous consular problems. I frankly think that we should rethink this entire aspect of our foreign policy. We live in a world in which foreign travel is relatively cheap and so Canadians travel around the world. (Foreign travel is not new. In the past, Europeans travelled and lived abroad in colonies for long stretches of times.) In addition, Canada readily grants citizenship to foreigners who then travel abroad with a Canadian passport.

Our government cannot resolve every problem of a Canadian citizen abroad. But this case of Bahari is connected to our foreign policy and to our broader interests.

I hope our government uses this case to put additional pressure on the Iranian regime.

Edited June 21, 2009 by August1991

[Borg]

Canadians, Canadians of convenience, or folks who come from that part of the world and go back to play the "journalist card" under a Canadian passport? All one and the same in this instance.

When you go to another country one should never believe that maple leaf will be your protection

If you go to those countries I believe you have the personal responsibility to stay out of trouble. Their rules are different and that is the way it is. If you do not stay out of trouble - for whatever reason - then why should I protect you?

Play the game? Take the chances - but do not come crying to me.

It happens so often now that I no longer care - in fact I am quite tired of it - however I am sure some Montreal elitist group and several human rights organizations funded by "registered" charities and my tax dollars will find the funding to get our courts to force the government to spend my tax dollars on a way to get this person out.

This is the wrong time to try and pressure Iran - they have far more important issues on their minds.

Borg

Edited June 21, 2009 by Borg

[Riverwind]

Our government cannot resolve every problem of a Canadian citizen abroad. But this case of Bahari is connected to our foreign policy and to our broader interests.

A lot depends on whether this person has dual citizenship and whether he used that Iranian passport to enter Iran. If he did represent himself as an Iranian citizen when he entered the country then Iran is entitled to treat him as an Iranian. People who expect the Canadian government to help them should not travel the world with multiple passports.

[August1991]

This is the wrong time to try and pressure Iran - they have far more important issues on their minds.

On the contrary, I think this is precisely the time to put pressure on the Iranian regime.

A lot depends on whether this person has dual citizenship and whether he used that Iranian passport to enter Iran. If he did represent himself as an Iranian citizen when he entered the country then Iran is entitled to treat him as an Iranian. People who expect the Canadian government to help them should not travel the world with multiple passports.

I somehow doubt the Iranian regime (or any authoritarian regime) cares much about how someone who they view as a citizen entered their country.

[Riverwind]

I somehow doubt the Iranian regime (or any authoritarian regime) cares much about how someone who they view as a citizen entered their country.

I believe it makes a big difference when it comes to international protocols. In any case, the dual citizenship is the problem. People who with dual citizenship travel at their own risk and cannot expect much help from the Canadian government if they travel to the country where they also hold citizenship.

[jdobbin]

I hope our government uses this case to put additional pressure on the Iranian regime.

What do you think they will do that they wouldn't normally do?

[punked]

If they got a Canadian citizenship we need to do everything we can to bring them home. Period. That needs to be the rule we fallow.

[Riverwind]

http://www.voyage.gc.ca/publications/dual-...yennete-eng.asp

The Canadian government strongly encourages you to use your Canadian passport when travelling abroad, especially when entering the country of your second citizenship.

...

Using your Canadian passport may provide the basis under which Canada can provide you with consular assistance if you run into difficulties. You should also obtain a visa, if that is required for entry by Canadian citizens, and always present yourself as a Canadian when dealing with local authorities.

If he travelled on his Iranian passport then there is little the Canadian government can do because in the eyes of international law Canada is not entitled to intervene on his behalf. Edited June 22, 2009 by Riverwind

[Borg]

If they got a Canadian citizenship we need to do everything we can to bring them home. Period. That needs to be the rule we fallow.

Yeah, we did that in Lebanon as well - millions of dollars to help those who demanded it - as soon as it was quiet the majority went back

Canada owes a canuck carrying more than one passport or one passport and an attitude nothing. If they create a problem and are arrested in a country with laws different than our own then they are on their own - obey the law of the land. Stay away from the risks - it IS DIFFERENT out there and away from weak and socially ineffective Canada - there are countries and regimes that actually are dangerous

Perhaps this great super power canada should enforce her financial will upon countries that "detain" the many idiots from canada who - on a more and more regular basis - think they can use that canuck passport for advantage and favour in third world countries.

Yeah, right!

Time to lose the entitled attitude

From an article - "Bahari came to Canada from Iran in 1988 as a political refugee. He has made a number of documentary films, several of them about Iran. "

I can well imagine the attitude this person went back with - fully intending to ABUSE the canuck passport - and in the end dragging his supposedly new country into the fray.

Go to any country and expect your maple leaf to protect you? That is plain stupidity - another great canadian trait.

Accepting political refugees into the country and then when they return to their home country as a "journalist" - screaming bloody murder about how they are being detained and abused? Another canadian trait

While the elite and the lefties here may not like my attitude - there is a damned good chance this person is using this country as a political and financial tool for personal gain - and NOT being a citizen of value. Acceptance of this is yet another canadian trait.

I am so tired of this - how much longer do we allow it?

Canadian citizen? Well, he is carrying a passport - but I do not consider him a citizen - just someone who managed to cross all the T's and dot all the I's and grab one of those nice passports. Then he decided go back to where he came from to create problems (real or perceived - does not matter) for the regime in power.

It is quite probable got what he deserved. Media and reactionaries will wring their hands in agony and do nothing - another great canadian trait.

Borg

Edited June 22, 2009 by Borg

[capricorn]

From an article - "Bahari came to Canada from Iran in 1988 as a political refugee. He has made a number of documentary films, several of them about Iran. "

---

It is quite probable got what he deserved.

Borg

Bahari, who holds dual citizenship in Iran and Canada, is also a documentary filmmaker.

In an interview with The Gazette in 1995, following the release of a film about Jews fleeing Hitler's Germany - The Voyage of the St. Louis - Bahari said he had come to Canada as a refugee in 1988.

He was a film student in Iran, but drew the wrath of the Iranian Ministry of Culture after it objected to his documentary about the downtrodden of Tehran.

"They just put it on the shelf," Bahari told The Gazette. "It wasn't a good start."

Bahari said he was blackballed by the government film agency and drafted into the Iranian army in 1985, so he decided to leave the country.

Three years of displacement took him from Iran to Pakistan to India and Nepal. In 1987, he went to England to work for the British Broadcasting Corp. Bahari emigrated to Canada in April 1988.

http://www.montrealgazette.com/News/Concor...9657/story.html

He moved to Canada in 1988 to study film and political science and graduated with a degree in Communications at Concordia UniversityMontreal, before returning to Iran to work as a journalist.

http://www.newsweek.com/id/203036/page/2

I thought the refugee program was to provide safe haven for those facing persecution in their country. After his studies in Canada, Bahari immediately returned to Iran to live and work as a journalist. Looks he to me he had no qualms returning to his country. Refugees who misuse the system should have their refugee status and Canadian citizenship revoked.

[Jerry J. Fortin]

http://www.montrealgazette.com/News/Concor...9657/story.html

http://www.newsweek.com/id/203036/page/2

I thought the refugee program was to provide safe haven for those facing persecution in their country. After his studies in Canada, Bahari immediately returned to Iran to live and work as a journalist. Looks he to me he had no qualms returning to his country. Refugees who misuse the system should have their refugee status and Canadian citizenship revoked.

It seems that this guy is grasping for straws. Wouldn't you?

[capricorn]

According to Newsweek, Bahari has maintained a residence in Canada since the late eighties. This man is cunning. He had it all planned that if he got into trouble in Iran, he could look to Canada for help. There's a reason he picked this country as his landing pad.

[tango]

Here's two clues. See if you can put them together:

The latest actions came a day after US President Barack Obama warned the Iranian government that "the world is watching."

The statement noted that as many as 20 journalists and bloggers are reported to have been detained since Iran's June 12 elections

I guess the world isn't watching so much anymore, eh!

Sometimes actually reading the article is informative.

Edited June 22, 2009 by tango

[August1991]

According to Newsweek, Bahari has maintained a residence in Canada since the late eighties. This man is cunning. He had it all planned that if he got into trouble in Iran, he could look to Canada for help. There's a reason he picked this country as his landing pad.

Is this the issue?

I think that it is in the interests of all Canadians to put pressure on this Iranian regime now. The world would be better off without this authoritarian theocracy and if the case of Maziar Bahari contributes to this, then so much the better.

What do you think they will do that they wouldn't normally do?

64$ question, Dobbin. IMV, Bahari is not an ordinary consular case.

From reports that I have heard, the Canadian Embassy in Tehran (unlike Australia's Embassy) has closed its doors and refuses to assist Iranians or anyone in anyway. Since the Iranian regime has shut down the Internet and cell phones, I suspect that our embassy has no way to communicate with the outside world. IOW, the embassy staff are more concerned about their own safety and their family's safety than about the safety of others.

I would hope that our government makes it plain to the Iranian regime, as Obama has stated, that the world is watching what they do. Of course, such a threat requires something solid to make it credible.

In any case, the dual citizenship is the problem.

I agree that, on the Canadian side, dual citizenship is in theory the problem. If we forced foreigners to abandon their original citizenship, then presumably we could wash our hands of their problems abroad.

But would foreign governments respect our decision? And if they don't, then what?

Edited June 22, 2009 by August1991

[Riverwind]

But would foreign governments respect our decision? And if they don't, then what?

You are completely missing the point.

If a country allows someone to enter with a Canadian passport they have explicitly accepted that the individual is Canadian and Canada is entitled to intervene under the terms of the various international conventions. If a Canadian chooses to enter a country without using their Canadian passport then Canada has no rights to intervene on behalf of that citizen during their stay in the country.

Many people with multiple passports give no thought to the nicities of international conventions when they travel and often use whatever passport will provide the quickest path through customs. This is a mistake that ties the hands of the Canadian government in the event of a problem.

Obviously, a foreign government can still choose to ignore the Canadian citizenship but they would violate international conventions by doing so. This makes it less likely that a foreign government would do so. The fact that using a Canadian passport is not a 100% gurantee does absolve the individual of responsibility for problems created if they do not use their Canadian passport.

[Borg]

You are completely missing the point.

If a country allows someone to enter with a Canadian passport they have explicitly accepted that the individual is Canadian and Canada is entitled to intervene under the terms of the various international conventions.

Obviously, a foreign government can still choose to ignore the Canadian citizenship but they would violate international conventions by doing so.

There are a great many countries that do not give two hoots and a f**k about world opinion, convention, passports and citizenships - etc

Many of them here in the middle east - you piss them off - they do as they see fit - and passport be damned.

So perhaps the point was taken but reality was allowed to set in - Iran, Iraq, INDIVIDUAL border guards in remote areas, tribal lords on borders, and I can name a dozen other countries - do not care.

When dealing with them, canada can cry rule of law, precedent and so on - but the fact remains they simply do not care. Period.

Perhaps we should wield our economic super power status?

Or perhaps we should tell these canadians of convenience to screw off - no more dual citizenship bullshit

I have to laugh at all the reasonable explanations here - problem is - we are not dealing with reasonable people or nations on the other end.

This happens almost routinely now - and it almost always is someone from country XX coming to canada and getting the easy passport - then returning to country XX - and crying for help when they get into trouble. They cheapen the value of our passport.

Not only do they take advantage of canada and the passport - they demand we spend my tax dollars to get them out of trouble after they abuse the privilege

I have no sympathy any more - canadians of convenience can rot where they are

Borg

Edited June 22, 2009 by Borg

[normanchateau]

OTTAWA (Reuters) - June 22, 2009 - Prime Minister Stephen Harper, adopting one of the toughest lines on Iran of any Western leader, condemned on Monday what he said was Tehran's totally unacceptable use of "brute force and intimidation" to deal with protests.

"The regime has chosen to use brute force and intimidation in responding to peaceful opposition regarding legitimate and serious allegations of electoral fraud," Harper said in a statement.

"Canada calls on the Iranian authorities to immediately cease the use of violence against their own people, to release all political prisoners and journalists ... and to conduct a full and transparent investigation into allegations of fraud in the presidential election."

http://ca.reuters.com/article/domesticNews...E55L4V520090622

Personally I commend Harper for his tough stance on brutal, sexist, homophobic and anti-Semitic thugs like Ahmadinejad. Other world leaders should follow Harper's lead.

[August1991]

Obviously, a foreign government can still choose to ignore the Canadian citizenship but they would violate international conventions by doing so.

As Borg has stated more eloquently above, that is the problem. Foreign governments can choose to ignore international agreements (or more likely choose to interpret them differently). The Canadian government is not dealing with Denmark here.

If you are a dual citizen of Denmark and Canada, it may matter in tax law what passport you use when you arrive (although with tax authorities, I suspect that they use other means to determine residency).

This is what I find so offensive in Leftist arguments in defense of "victim" countries and moral relativisim. Iran and the US don't play the same way. The US Constitution means something. Iran's constitution is meaningless.

----

Returning to the case of Bahari, I think the Canadian government should treat this consular case in exemplary fashion. Bahari is a Canadian citizen, detained abroad. The Canadian government has a right, under international law (as you would put it, Riverwind), to ensure that its representative has access to him and to ensure that he has access to local counsel.

Our consular officer in Tehran should make daily representations to the Iranian MFA, while reminding the Iranian interlocuter that as Obama said, the world (and Canada) is watching.

[Jerry J. Fortin]

As Borg has stated more eloquently above, that is the problem. Foreign governments can choose to ignore international agreements (or more likely choose to interpret them differently). The Canadian government is not dealing with Denmark here.

If you are a dual citizen of Denmark and Canada, it may matter in tax law what passport you use when you arrive (although with tax authorities, I suspect that they use other means to determine residency).

This is what I find so offensive in Leftist arguments in defense of "victim" countries and moral relativisim. Iran and the US don't play the same way. The US Constitution means something. Iran's constitution is meaningless.

----

Returning to the case of Bahari, I think the Canadian government should treat this consular case in exemplary fashion. Bahari is a Canadian citizen, detained abroad. The Canadian government has a right, under international law (as you would put it, Riverwind), to ensure that its representative has access to him and to ensure that he has access to local counsel.

Our consular officer in Tehran should make daily representations to the Iranian MFA, while reminding the Iranian interlocuter that as Obama said, the world (and Canada) is watching.

It seems to me that the nation has no real option but to pursue the interests of the citizen. I don't like it, but there it is.

[capricorn]

It seems to me that the nation has no real option but to pursue the interests of the citizen. I don't like it, but there it is.

I agree.

If Canada succeeds in having Bahari released, I'd wager he'll simply return to Iran to resume his reporter's duties. Iran is his native country and his mission is to expose the regime he so strongly opposes. His Canadian links are merely a convenience.

[Bonam]

I agree.

If Canada succeeds in having Bahari released, I'd wager he'll simply return to Iran to resume his reporter's duties. Iran is his native country and his mission is to expose the regime he so strongly opposes. His Canadian links are merely a convenience.

If that is the case then he is serving the interests of Canada (and the rest of the West) in any case, whether or not he is a Canadian of convenience, so why not help him in his efforts?

[Jerry J. Fortin]

If that is the case then he is serving the interests of Canada (and the rest of the West) in any case, whether or not he is a Canadian of convenience, so why not help him in his efforts?

Help him? Isn't that what we are talking about?

[Bonam]

Indeed it is. I'm just providing an extra perspective on why we should do so. Far apart from a matter of citizenship, convenience, national duty to its citizens, or whatever else, it is simply in our best interest to do so in this case.

[Jerry J. Fortin]

Indeed it is. I'm just providing an extra perspective on why we should do so. Far apart from a matter of citizenship, convenience, national duty to its citizens, or whatever else, it is simply in our best interest to do so in this case.

I am not sure of that at all. We are talking about someone who knowingly put themselves into a situation where they could be harmed. That is a reckless action on the part of the individual. Should the government be held to account for the reckless manner in which its citizens conduct themselves? Or should the citizen have some responsibility and accountability in this situation?

[Bonam]

I am not sure of that at all. We are talking about someone who knowingly put themselves into a situation where they could be harmed. That is a reckless action on the part of the individual. Should the government be held to account for the reckless manner in which its citizens conduct themselves? Or should the citizen have some responsibility and accountability in this situation?

What I am saying is that that whole issue is completely beside the point, in this case. If this guy was over there shedding light on the acts committed by the Iranian regime, then he should have our support. If he was just there to visit or something, then whatever, let him rot, but as it is, he was serving our national interest.