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.