Ottawa, Jan 15 (IANS) Canada has condemned on Thursday the killing of its citizen by Iranian authorities and demanded an end to the repression in that country convulsed by weeks of citizens’ protests against the regime.
Foreign Minister Anita Anand, confirmed the death in a post on X and said, “Peaceful protests by the Iranian people — asking that their voices be heard in the face of the Iranian regime’s repression and ongoing human rights violations – has led the regime to flagrantly disregard human life”.
“Canada condemns and calls for an immediate end to the Iranian regime’s violence”, she added.
Neither she nor the foreign ministry identified the victim or give details about the killing, such as when or where it happened.
On Wednesday, the foreign ministers of the G7 – the group of industrialised democracies – in statement issued in Ottawa warned, that they “remain prepared to impose additional restrictive measures if Iran continues to crack down on protests and dissent in violation of international human rights obligations”.
“We are deeply alarmed at the high level of reported deaths and injuries. We condemn the deliberate use of violence and the killing of protestors, arbitrary detention, and intimidation tactics by security forces against demonstrators”, they said.
The report of the Canadian’s killing came as US President Donald Trump threatened to attack Iran if the violence against protesters continued.
Trump said on Wednesday that the US has been told that the killings of protesters will stop, and Iran said on Thursday that it was not issuing a death warrant for protester, who was said to be facing imminent execution.
United Nations Human Rights High Commissioner Volker Turk said this week, “The killing of peaceful demonstrators must stop, and the labelling of protesters as ‘terrorists’ to justify violence against them is unacceptable”.
His office said that several hospitals are reportedly overwhelmed by the number of casualties, including children.
Estimates of killing by human rights groups exceed 2,500, but with the internet and most lines of communications cut, it has been difficult to get accurate tallies.
According to the Canadian foreign ministry, 3,054 Canadian citizens and permanent residents were in Iran.
It asked them to leave the country.
In 2003, an Iranian-Canadian freelance photographer Zahra Kazemi who was arrested in Tehran died in custody.
–IANS
al/pgh
