Foreign Affairs rebuffs Ignatieff’s request to create a safe haven
Liberal leader Michael Ignatieff is calling for Canada’s embassy in Tehran to offer refuge to those injured in the protests gripping Iran. However, Foreign Affairs spokesperson Simone MacAndrew said “Canada does not offer asylum to individuals in its embassies abroad” except in exceptional circumstances involving an “immediate threat of injury or death.” Meanwhile, a Canadian journalist for the U.S.-based Newsweek was reported by the magazine to have been “detained without charge” during Saturday’s massive protests in Tehran. Maziar Bahari has been reporting from Iran for the past decade and is one of at least 24 journalists and bloggers arrested as part of a crackdown on protesters and media.