The allegations of fraud in the June 12 presidential elections are very serious, and we have encouraged the Iranian authorities to conduct a full and transparent investigation to ensure that the votes of all Iranians were counted. At the same time, Canada has made it clear that we will not interfere in the internal affairs of Iran.
The post-election situation has been very troubling for us. We have consistently voiced our concerns and called upon Iranian authorities to fully respect its human rights obligations. The ongoing detention, intimidation, and hostile treatment of opposition figures, academics, journalists, and some locally engaged diplomatic staff and foreign nationals are unacceptable. We have consistently called upon the Iranian authorities to release all political prisoners and journalists who have been unjustly detained. Prime Minister Harper has issued two statements condemning the violence and the crackdown on protesters by Iranian security forces. The Minister of Foreign Affairs has also issued statements condemning the use of violence by Iranian security forces and has called upon Iran to fully respect its human rights obligations.
We have relayed our concerns to the Iranian chargé d'affaires, Iran's top diplomat in Ottawa, on several occasions. In addition to our statements, we also supported a project with the Iran Human Rights Documentation Center to investigate and report on human rights abuses committed against civil society, media, and citizens after the election. We put forward about $60,000 from our Glyn Berry program. The project is documenting the arrests, detentions, torture, and killings of human rights lawyers and activists, leaders of opposition groups, journalists, students, and others. The Iran Human Rights Documentation Center is also analyzing whether the Iranian authorities' censure of the media violated Iran's obligations under international law.