The Supreme Court of Canada today released its judgment concerning the desire of the son of Canadian journalist Zahra Kazemi to bring civil proceedings in Canada for a claim of torture committed in Iran. The case is known as Kazemi Estate v Islamic Republic of Iran, 2014 SCC 62.
In assessing the legal claim, the judges of Canada's highest court refer to a work on international law written by four Canadian legal scholars, including U of A law professor Joanna Harrington. Their text, International Law: Doctrine, Practice, and Theory, 2nd ed. (Toronto: Irwin Law, 2014), is cited by both the majority and the dissent with respect to the development of the content of state immunity laws and the evolution of a doctrine of restrictive state immunity. The court also cited the text in confirming that the prohibition on torture has reached the level of a fundamental tenet of international law.