TEHRAN, July 19 (UPI) -- Canada has recalled its ambassador to Iran after a trial for the death of a Canadian photographer was abruptly called off, the BBC reported Monday.
Foreign Minister Bill Graham said Ambassador Philip MacKinnon would return to Canada after what he called a "flagrant denial of justice" when the second day of the trial was closed to the media and diplomats Sunday.
Prison official Mohammed Bakhshi was charged with inflicting the fatal blow to Iranian-born photographer Zahra Kazemi. The Montreal-based freelance journalist died July 10, 2003, while in detention for taking photographs outside a Tehran prison during student-led protests against the government.
Kazemi's defense team, led by Nobel Peace Prize winner Shirin Ebadi, has accused Iranian authorities of a coverup, saying a more senior official is the real culprit.
"This is not a fair trial," Ebadi said. "If they issue a verdict it will be unfair."
"Zahra Kazemi was an Iranian citizen. It is absurd for Canada to claim she was Canadian ... It does not make sense to have a Canadian representative there," Iran's foreign ministry spokesman Hamid Reza Asefi told reporters.
