Canada is asking Iran to either charge or release Ramin Jahanbegloo, a Canadian citizen who was arrested last month in Tehran. 

Ramin Jahanbegloo holds dual citizenship with Iran and Canada. (CBC)

INDEPTH: Iran

Foreign Affairs Minister Peter MacKay told reporters in Ottawa on Thursday that he has written to his Iranian counterpart asking for the case to move forward, or for Jahanbegloo to be released.

But MacKay says Jahanbegloo's dual Iranian-Canadian citizenship may be hurting his cause. 

"Iran does not recognize joint citizenship so they're not in any way acknowledging his Canadian citizenship or connection. In fact, by some bizarre assessment, having Canadian or American or any other foreign connection ... is feeding, perhaps, the reasons for his detention," the minister said. 

MacKay says in spite of repeated requests, Canadian diplomats have been unable to contact the writer. 

Jahanbegloo is the head of the Department for Contemporary Studies at the Cultural Research Bureau in Tehran. He has also written extensively on democracy and lectured in the West, at Harvard and at the University of Toronto. 

Relations between Ottawa and Tehran deteriorated sharply in 2003 when another dual national, photographer Zahra Kazemi, was severely beaten while in custody. She died of her injuries.

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