OTTAWA - The Iranian government has summoned the Canadian charge d'affaires in Tehran to protest the killing of an Iranian-Canadian teen last week in Ottawa.
The Iranian state news agency IRNA reports that the Iranian government called on Ottawa to probe the murder of 16-year-old Yazdan Ghiasvand on Dec. 6.
Three adult males are in custody in the shooting death of Ghiasvand, who was left for dead in Chinatown. Ottawa police have said the murder is not gang-related.
A top Iranian official complained to the Canadian diplomat about Canada's "failure to arrest the criminals involved in the murders of two other Iranian nationals", who were killed last year "in cold blood in Canada," IRNA reports.
Iran's state TV, Press TV, reports the Iranian Embassy in Ottawa has also sent an official letter to the Department of Foreign Affairs "calling for the prosecution and punishment of the murderers."
A Foreign Affairs Department spokesman in Ottawa said they are looking into the reports, but had no further comment.
Relations between Iran and Canada have come under the spotlight recently with a handful of high-profile cases drawing the attention of both countries.
In what might be the most well-known case, the prime minister's wife has lent her voice to an international appeal calling on the Iranian government to release a women who has been sentenced to death.
Laureen Harper has said the free women in Canada and around the world "will not rest" until Sakineh Mohammadi-Ashtiani and other women unjustly imprisoned in Iran are released.
Ashtiani was sentenced to death by stoning after appearing on TV to confess to her husband's murder -- a confession her lawyers say was forced.
The sentence was changed to hanging after a massive international outcry, and Ashtiani has been awaiting execution. There were reports of her being freed last week, but those proved to be false.
Meanwhile, an Iranian-born man who is a permanent resident of Canada has been sentenced to death in Tehran in a case his supporters say is rife with torture and human rights abuses.
A website run by those campaigning for Saeed Malekpour's release from an Iranian prison says the 35-year-old was sentenced to death a little over a week ago.
In that case, Canada has expressed its concern for what it calls "the continued flagrant disregard" of rights by the Iranian authorities.
A Foreign Affairs spokesman has said Canada and the international community are striving to hold Iran accountable for such human rights violations.
