Supreme Court of Canada: <\/b>In a recent case relating to sovereign immunity where Civil proceedings were initiated against Iran, its head of State and two State officials in relation to the alleged torture and death of a Canadian citizen in Iran, a question arose whether they are entitled to immunity by operation of State Immunity Act, R.S.C., 1985, (SIA). The Court held that a foreign State and its functionaries cannot be sued in Canadian courts for acts of torture committed abroad. SIA, in its existing form, does not provide for an exception to foreign State immunity from civil suits alleging acts of torture occurring outside Canada.<\/p>\n
In the instant case the allegation was that a Canadian citizen who visited Iran as a journalist in 2003, was arrested, detained, sexually assaulted and tortured by Iranian officials. She died due to a brain injury sustained while in the custody of those officials. In 2006, her son filed Civil proceedings, seeking damages on behalf of himself and his mother\u2019s estate against the Iranian Head of State and State officials. The Iranian defendants brought a motion in Quebec Superior Court on the basis of State immunity. In response, the appellant invoked the exception against State Immunity under\u00a0Section 6(a) of SIA and challenged the constitutionality of Section 3(1); of SIA in view of Section 7 of the Charter of Rights and Freedoms (hereinafter, \u201cthe Charter\u201d) .<\/p>\n