Government News
If this looks like an ordinary diplomatic photograph -- it is not. On Wednesday, in a rare encounter, the Hon. Noel Kinsella, Speaker of the Senate of Canada, summoned Kambiz Sheikh-Hassani, the Iranian Chargé d'Affaires, to his chambers.
Speaker Kinsella presented Sheikh-Hassani with two documents: The first was a bound copy of 34 recent speeches delivered in the Senate decrying the abysmal abuse of human rights in Iran. The second was a similar debate from the House of Commons. Speaker Kinsella demanded the release of all unlawfully held Iranian prisoners of conscience and in particular the Canadian prisoners: Saeed Malekpour, Hossein Derakhshan and Hamid Ghassemi-Shall.
Sheikh-Hassani has represented The Islamic Republic of Iran in Ottawa since 2010. Hear us Sheikh-Hassani: The Canadian people condemn in the strongest of terms your regime's cruel and grotesque abuse of fundamental human rights.
By Senator Linda Frum
Published on the Huffington Post website
May 18, 2012
Hear Us Iran: Canadians Condemn You