Government betrayed me, says Island mother
A year after children’s abduction, woman wages battles in 2 nations
Comox Valley mother Alison Azer is appealing a decision by Iranian authorities to stay charges against her ex-husband, wanted in the abduction of the couple’s four children.
“He may choose to breathe a sigh of relief that the charges were stayed, but he knows better than any of us how unpredictable the system can be there [in Iran],” Azer said.
A Canada-wide warrant and Interpol notice were issued for Azer’s ex-husband, Saren Azer, in August 2015 for abduction in contravention of a custody order after he failed to return with the children from a court-approved trip to Europe.
The Comox Valley doctor came to Canada as a refugee seeking asylum from Iran in 1994. He is now a Canadian citizen. The couple divorced in 2014 and had shared custody of the Canadian-born children — Sharvahn, 12, Rojevahn, 10, Dersim, 7, and Meitan, 4.
Azer said Iranian authorities indicated they were waiting for Canadian police to contact them after they made the arrest in June.
“Iran did the right thing,” she said.
“They learned there was an international fugitive in their territory and they picked up the fugitive and brought him in for questioning and let the issuing country, in this case Canada, know that they had their fugitive in custody.
“But Canada never picked up the phone.”
Azer said her Iranian lawyer told her that the charges were stayed on that basis in late July.
“My government betrayed me. My government betrayed my kids,” she said. “I really, really wanted to believe them when they said, up to the prime minister: ‘Your children’s return to Canada is our priority.’ ”
Azer said the RCMP told her they had asked Global Affairs Canada to engage in dialogue with their counterparts in Iran for the purpose of returning the children to Canada, but Global Affairs denied permission.
She fears the Canadian government has “sacrificed” her children — worried that harm may come to them or their father, a Canadian citizen, if he were to be imprisoned in Iran.
“I think Canada doesn’t know quite what to do about that,” Azer said. “They may feel it’s better to take the path of greatest resistance … because Canada doesn’t want to be traced to potential consequences Saren could face in Iran.”
The Canadian government said Saturday that it remains focused on the safe return of the Azer children.
Officials in Ottawa and in six missions abroad have spent hundreds of hours over the past year working to find a resolution to “this very complex family case,” said Global Affairs spokesman François Lasalle.
Global Affairs decisions consider the safety and well-being of all Canadians involved, he said, noting “parental abduction cases can be especially complicated where a child is taken to a country, such as Iran, which does not recognize dual-nationality.”
Lasalle said the decision to enforce an Interpol notice — including whether to detain or extradite — rests with the host government.
According to the National Post, documents from the court proceedings, obtained through an Iranian lawyer, show a one-sided case with no evidence or testimony to refute the words of Saren Azer.
The prosecutor’s decision, written in Farsi and translated into English, dismisses the case, the Post reported. The decision says “a father has total paternal custody of the children” and “bringing the children from Canada to Iran does not constitute human kidnapping.”
Saren Azer and the children are believed to be living in the Iranian city of Urmia.
In June, Comox Valley RCMP said he contacted police, assuring them the children were safe.
Their mother believes the children may be in danger because of their father’s connections with an Iranian separatist group advocating for Kurdish rights in Iran.