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There will be lots of talk in the next few days about how the Immigration and Refugee Board of Canada screwed up the case of Amir Kazemian.

The board will be attacked by all the predictable voices for forcing this poor, unfortunate man to seek sanctuary in a church to avoid returning to Iran, where, his supporters say, he likely would have been tortured and beaten -- again.

If only the case were that simple.

The way has now been cleared for Mr. Kazemian to stay in Canada on humanitarian and compassionate grounds. This is welcome news. In light of new information concerning his past difficulties in Iran, it is the right decision.

Mr. Kazemian had been living in St. Michael's Anglican Church, where he sought asylum nearly three years ago when it looked like he was going to be deported to his home country.

He was arrested on Saturday when a police officer arrived at the church to respond to a call Mr. Kazemian had himself made concerning someone who tried to pass him fraudulent money for a computer he was trying to sell on the Internet.

Yes, Mr. Kazemian was able to conduct business inside the walls of the church. While Vancouver Police had previously respected the sanctuary of the church for those seeking asylum, the officer who got the call Saturday did not.

And, upon noticing the warrant for Mr. Kazemian's arrest on her computer, promptly placed him in handcuffs and took him to jail.

Mr. Kazemian's supporters worried his arrest would lead to his deportation. But those fears were allayed when it was announced yesterday that Citizenship and Immigration Canada approved a new application by Mr. Kazemian to stay here on humanitarian and compassionate grounds. A similar application was turned down several years ago.

On the surface, Mr. Kazemian seems like the perfect candidate to be approved for refugee status. He is the son of a political activist who, in 1979, formed a party opposed to Ayatollah Khomeini. The father was arrested in front of his family, including Amir, and taken away for months.

Amir, himself, was later arrested, tortured and beaten. At 18 he was imprisoned for 16 months. Years later, upon reporting to Iranian authorities, as he had to every month, he was beaten again, this time resulting in a serious brain injury.

So how could someone who had suffered so much, whose life in his home country seemed so precarious, be turned down by Canada, a liberal-minded nation whose refugee board was constantly criticized for being soft on refugee claims?

At his initial board hearing almost nine years ago, Mr. Kazemian, it turned out, was not the ideal witness. A problem temper surfaced. He screamed at adjudicators at various points. He was sometimes incoherent. His memory was foggy.

In other words, he hardly exhibited the type of behaviour of someone we wanted in Canada. The refugee board turned him down.

Lawyers for Mr. Kazemian then applied on humanitarian and compassionate grounds, arguing his life would be in peril if he returned to Iran.

Again, the adjudicators weren't buying it.

How could two levels of our immigration and refugee system be so heartless in light of such compelling evidence that showed why Mr. Kazemian needed to stay out of Iran?

Well, according to the lawyer representing him today, Naomi Minwalla, it was partly because a lot of evidence pointing to torture and abuse was never presented at the earlier hearings. It was only when she took over the case more than a year ago that she got her hands on irrefutable proof of what he had endured, including medical records that confirmed the torture and the brain injury.

That injury, and the severe psychological trauma Mr. Kazemian experienced when he was tortured, explained his often bizarre and irrational behaviour at the first refugee board hearing, said Ms. Minwalla.

"They didn't have all the information," Mr. Minwalla said this weekend.

"In January, I sent the Citizenship and Immigration Canada seven volumes of fresh evidence, material and information not previously available."

And it was likely that information that paved the way for the decision yesterday to allow Mr. Kazemian to stay in Canada on humanitarian and compassionate grounds.

Just as this is the right decision, the earlier one by the refugee board was also correct, based on the behaviour Mr. Kazemian exhibited at the time and the information the board had about his past.

A board so often lambasted for being too easy on refugees was actually being the gatekeeper it should be.

gmason@globeandmail.com

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