Hamed Esmaeilion: We will never forget what Iran did to Canadians

Understandable reaction and feeling neglected but perhaps unrealistic expectations regarding PM time and that governments have broader interests than specific community ones, “the world as it is.” Not unique to Iranian Canadians or other totalitarian regimes:

…Over the past 18 months, the prime minister has not attended a single event dedicated to the victims of the Islamic Republic’s crimes. Other members of his government attended the sixth anniversary commemoration of the downing of Flight PS752, but he chose not to be there. During the events of Jan. 8 and 9, the Iranian-Canadian community did not receive the solidarity it needed from him.

Now, while the blood of many victims stains the streets of cities across Iran and thousands of families around the world face endless grief, he speaks of the need to engage with this regime and restore diplomatic relations in order to protect Canadians’ rights.

The families of Flight PS752 victims continue to be targeted by the regime. Even now, they face intimidation and persecution, including arrest and the confiscation of their passports.

Had the government used the legal tools at its disposal and sought provisional measures in the two active proceedings before the International Court of Justice in The Hague, the Islamic Republic would never have dared to go this far.

We have called neither for war nor for negotiation. Our demand is simple: a fair and impartial trial that establishes the truth and delivers justice.

Rather than advocating an impossible proposition that we, the victims’ families, will oppose with all our strength, the prime minister should attend memorial ceremonies for the victims of this regime. There, standing among grieving Canadian families, he may better understand what is at stake and find the resolve to press for accountability before international courts.

Anything else will mean trampling truth and justice under a naïve notion of diplomacy, one that has failed for half a century because it refuses to confront the Islamic Republic’s murderous ideology and inhumanity.

Source: Hamed Esmaeilion: We will never forget what Iran did to Canadians