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News Alerts & Updates
Cannon Criticizes Human Rights Situation in Iran
January 6, 2011
Source: The Epoch Times
Helena Zhu
The state of human rights in Iran has come under strong criticism from Foreign Affairs Minister Lawrence Cannon, who on New Year’s Day issued a statement saying he is "deeply concerned by the deteriorating human rights situation" in the Islamic regime. Cannon called on the regime to free several prisoners currently incarcerated in Iranian jails, including two Canadians of dual nationality...
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Govt. decries rights violations in Iran
January 1, 2011
Source: MONTREAL (AFP)
"I am particularly concerned by the uncertain fate of two Canadians of dual nationality who remain in prison in Iran," Foreign Minister Lawrence Cannon said.
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VOA News Report on Canadian Residents Jailed and Abused in Iran
December 12, 2010
Source: Voice of America
Voice of America broadcasting of Antonella Mega as she pleads with Iranian authorities to allow her husband Hamid Ghassemi-Shall to return home to Canada.
>> view the story
Hamid Ghassemi-Shall is joined by another Cdn. resident in Tehran's Evin prison.
December 6, 2010
Source: The National Post
Kenyon Wallace
Another Canadian resident of Iranian descent is found in an Iranian prison. The two men previously unknown to each other are now in the same Iranian prison: Hamid Ghassemi-Shall of Toronto detained in May 2008 and Saeed Malekpour detained in October 2008.
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Catholic nun battles to end death penalty
November 27, 2010
Source: The Toronto Star
Dan Robson
Sister Helen Prejean's story has been told around the world. Her Pulitzer Prize-nominated book
Dead Man Walking
was turned into an Academy Award- winning film, starring Susan Sarandon and Sean Penn. On Saturday, Antonella Mega came to find hope in Prejean’s words.
>> read the article
A wife’s desperate appeal
October 8, 2010
Source: CBC News The National
Nahlah Ayed
Antonella Mega hasn’t heard from her husband, Hamid, for months now. She is asking Canadian authorities to step up efforts to get him released from an Iranian jail. The number of outspoken supporters for Hamid is growing... and Dan McTeague, Liberal Consular Affairs Critic, says the Canadian government must be more forceful in engaging Iranian authorities about Hamid’s case, specifically in demanding he receive a fair trial
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Fighting to free her husband
September 30, 2010
Source: The Link - CBC/Radio Canada International
Marc Montgomery
Antonella Mega says Hamid Ghassemi-Shall is gentle and not at all political. But, that's not how the authorities in Iran see him. In 2008 when Ghassemi-Shall was in Iran to visit his mother, he was arrested and he's been in the political wing of Tehran's notorious Evin Prison ever since. Marc Montgomery speaks with Antonella Mega about her struggle to raise awareness about her husband’s case and to win his release.
>> download the audio clip
Liberals demand Harper government stand up for Canadian citizens detained in Iran
September 29, 2010
Source: Press Release - Liberal Party of Canada
The Liberal Party of Canada today called on the Conservative government to inform Canadians of what is being done to intervene on behalf of two Canadian citizens currently detained in Iran. Canadian-Iranian blogger Hossein Derakhshan was sentenced this week to 19 years in prison for content on his blog, while Hamid Ghassemi-Shall is also in prison and could face a death sentence.
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Toronto woman spurned in her quest to have appeal for her husband’s life heard
September 26, 2010
Source: The Toronto Star
Olivia Ward
At the UN, Ottawa regularly condemns Iran’s human rights violations, but has not spoken out on Ghassemi-Shall’s case. Amnesty International has urged the Harper government to join with other countries to put pressure on Tehran.
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Another black mark on Iran’s justice system
September 24, 2010
Source: The Montreal Gazette
As the terrible drama of Iranian Sakineh Mohammadi Ashtiani drags on -with no legal proof of wrongdoing, will Iran stone the mother of two to death or hang her? -few Canadians need to be convinced that Iran's concept of justice is arbitrary and irrational.
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Toronto-based blogger faces execution in Iran
September 21, 2010
Source: The Toronto Star
Kate Allen
The strange saga of a Toronto-based blogger jailed in Iran on propaganda charges took an alarming twist Tuesday after his supporters said prosecutors requested the death penalty.
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The Regime Delays Announcing the Death of Captain Alborz Ghassemi for 6 Months
September 16, 2010
Source: Iran Focus -
www.IranFocus.com
The Regime announced the death of Alborz Ghassemi, a political prisoner and sympathizer of the opposition movement, (OMPI) seven months after his death in prison after denying him medical care.
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Surviving the nightmare of Iran’s Evin Prison
September 16, 2010
Source: CBC News
Jennifer Clibbon
Many Iranians with dual nationalities go back to Iran regularly to visit family, and Hamid's arrest should be a warning to them, that they could get arrested for no good reason and be imprisoned for extended periods of time.
>> read the article
A Canadian in Iran
August 23, 2010
The Globe and Mail, Letters to the Editor
It is horrifying that Hamid Ghassemi-Shall has been unjustly held in Iran for over two years, under a death sentence, no less. To compound the sickening situation, our Canadian government has barely reacted.
>> read the article
Please don’t abandon a Canadian in need
August 20, 2010
Source: The Globe and Mail
Marina Nemat
Unfortunately, the Canadian government has not been as engaged as it should be when it comes to Canadians with dual citizenship imprisoned abroad. I have spoken with Antonella Mega, Hamid Ghassemi-Shall’s wife, and many times she’s felt abandoned and ignored by Canadians. Hamid is innocent and he deserves our support.
>> read the article
Canadian trapped in Iranian jail
August 16, 2010
Source: The Toronto Sun
Joe Warmington
With a little diplomatic pressure and appealing to the good nature people in all countries posses, we were able to bring home Cody LeCompte. Same goes for Brenda Martin. Perhaps now we can do the same for fellow Canadian Hamid Ghassemi-Shall, a resident of the Beach.
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Jim Richards interviews Liberal MP Dan McTeague, Official Opposition Critic for Consumer Affairs and Consular Service on Canadian-Iranian Hamid Ghassemi-Shall sentenced to death in Iran
May 27, 2010
Source: NEWSTALK 1010
Jim Richards
Jim Richards interviews Liberal MP Dan McTeague on concerns that the Canadian government is not doing enough to help save the life of Hamid Ghassemi-Shall, a Canadian-Iranian who was mistakenly charged with espionage and sentenced to death in Iran
>> download the audio clip
Jim Richards interviews Antonella Mega, wife of Canadian-Iranian Hamid Ghassemi-Shall sentenced to death in Iran
May 27, 2010
Source: NEWSTALK 1010
Jim Richards
Jim Richards interviews Antonella Mega on her decision to go public to save the life of her husband, Hamid Ghassemi-Shall, a Canadian-Iranian who was mistakenly charged with espionage and sentenced to death in Iran
>> download the audio clip
Repression in Iran
May 24, 2010
Source: The Toronto Star - Editorial
Ian Urquhart
Repression in distant Iran has a way of hitting close to home here in Canada. A spate of detentions has unsettled the large Iranian Canadian community, rattled family members and reminded all Canadians how Iran’s revolutionary government operates.
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Canadian arrested in Iran
May 20, 2010
Source: CBC The National
Nahlah Ayed
A Toronto woman is appealing to the Canadian government for help after her Iranian-Canadian husband was arrested and charged with espionage in Iran
>> view the story
Toronto woman pleads for husband’s release from Iranian jail
May 20, 2010
Source: The Toronto Star
Michelle Shephard - National Security Reporter
For two years, Antonella Mega has quietly fought for her husband’s release from an Iranian prison, putting her faith in the Canadian government and Tehran’s courts.
>> read the article
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