Ottawa demands consular access for detained journalist
Last Updated: Tuesday, June 23, 2009 | 8:18 PM ET
CBC News
Maziar Bahari, a Canadian journalist working for Newsweek, has been detained in Iran without charge. (CBC)A diplomatic note has been sent to Iranian authorities in Tehran demanding immediate consular access to a detained Canadian journalist, according to Foreign Affairs officials.
Maziar Bahari, 41, was taken by a group of men believed to be security officials from the apartment he shares with his mother in Tehran on Sunday morning, Newsweek foreign editor Nisid Hajari told CBC News on Monday.
Catherine Loubier, a spokeswoman for Foreign Affairs Minister Lawrence Cannon, said the ministry has raised the case with the Iranian chargé d'affaires in Ottawa.
But Loubier added that due to the Privacy Act, no other information can be released.
Bahari is originally from Tehran but moved to Canada in 1988 and earned a degree at Concordia University in Montreal. He has a home in Toronto and has been working in Iran for Newsweek for more than a decade, the publication said in a statement posted on its website.
Bahari has not been seen since he was taken into custody, Newsweek said Monday.
