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Well what did they expect?

The agent on trial for the death of Iranian-Canadian photojournalist Zahra Kazemi has been acquitted:

The trial ended abruptly last Sunday after three court sessions. Only for one day, on Saturday, were foreign diplomats were allowed into the courtroom.

By Sunday, however, all foreign observers were barred from the trial, prompting Canada to recall the ambassador to Iran for a second time.

Kazemi’s family has long suspected that the wrong man was on trial.

Ebadi has said there was no strong evidence against Ahmadi. She believes those responsible for Kazemi’s death have been set free.

She says the Iranian court wouldn’t allow her to present witnesses that would prove another prison official was behind Kazemi’s death.

It frequently surprised me, when following the trial and the Canadian reaction, how many people assumed that the Iranian justice system would be like the Canadian one. They assumed for some reason that the same transparent justice that murder victims expect here would be carried out in a theocratic dictatorship. Which is especially surprising, considering how much Canada loves to engage in moral relativism. I guess we shouldn’t impose our standards on other countries… except when it’s convenient. Or something.

Whether or not the right person was on trial, and whatever the truth was, we’ll probably never know. Anyone expecting true justice one way or the other was either incredibly naive or incredibly stupid.

{ 1 comment… add one }
  • Josh 07.25.04, 9:18 PM

    You are so right about this disease called ‘moral relativism’.
    One of the west’s major problems is that is projects its value system on others even though the culture is different.
    The terms we use mean totally different things in other parts of the word. Here are some that just can’t be compared;
    -judicial system,
    -President,
    -Prime Minister,
    -parliament,
    -jail,
    -chief of Police,
    -journalists,
    etc…

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