Canadian News from Iran

I have not commented on news from Iran as it is being well covered, in fact incredibly so on Andrew Sullivan's Daily Dish. There are, however, two Canadian stories worth noting.

The first, reported by Andrew Sullivan, is that unlike many western embassies, the Canadian is not taking in injured protesters. I will email External Affairs and post their reply, if any, when I receive it.

The second is that Globe & Mail reporter George McLeod was detained and beaten by Iranian authorities. McLeod gives this account of his ordeal

I was walking by a checkpoint and an officer grabbed me and forced me onto a motorcycle. As soon as we stopped, I was grabbed from the bike by another officer and slapped me across the head. Seven officers ran up to join in the slapping, and one punched me in the head. A large officer, about 6 foot 4 and dressed in camouflage, grabbed me by the neck, pinching my jugular but not my wind pipe. His leather gloves cut through my skin and I was pinned against a van, my arm bent high behind my back.

I was then thrown onto a second motorcycle with one police officer in front of me and another behind, slapping me more and cursing during the quick ride around the corner.

When we stopped, an officer grabbed me, pinned my arm behind my back and led me into the bowels of the Interior Ministry headquarters – where so many Iranian dissidents “disappear.”

We went down several flights of dark concrete stairs to a large basement room, where I was grabbed by the shirt and pinned against the wall, as more questions were shouted at me in Farsi – and as I caught glimpses of the others being treated far worse. I was separated from the protesters, and officers gathered around me, attracted by the spectacle of a foreigner.

Some pushed me, and I was worried I would be held and beaten for days. But two of the officers fended the others off. They took my camera to see whether I had photographed the riots, but I had already erased the images. I was questioned in broken English for about 20 minutes – sometimes held against the wall, sometimes allowed to stand while officers smiled and chatted.

“There has been a terrible misunderstanding,” I was told. “There is a bad situation in Tehran, and sometimes the officers get confused,” he said with a smile, while a plainclothes officer offered me water and tea.

Again, I can find no indication of comment by the Minister of External Affairs or his officials, though the story is now a week old.