Canadian Journalist Beaten To Death By Iranian Autorities, Body Not Returned

[The Mad Monk]

Detained Canadian Journalist Dies in Iran
Sat Jul 12, 6:55 PM ET


TEHRAN, Iran - A Canadian photojournalist allegedly beaten into a coma by Iranian police for taking pictures of a Tehran prison has died, a senior Iranian official said Saturday.



Zahra Kazemi died late Friday in a Tehran hospital after suffering a "brain stroke," Mohammad-Hossein Khoshvaqt, an official in the Ministry of Culture and Islamic Guidance, said in a statement carried by Iran's official news agency.


The Islamic Republic News Agency quoted Khoshvaqt as saying Kazemi, 54, had been authorized to cover last month's violent pro-reform protests in Tehran. No mention was made of her arrest.


Canada reiterated its demand for an explanation of the circumstances of her detention and injuries.


Kazemi's son, Stephan Hachemi, said his mother, who is of Iranian origin, traveled to the country after 1 1/2 months in neighboring Iraq (news - web sites). The freelance photographer from Quebec was arrested in Tehran on June 23 and branded a spy for taking pictures of a prison in the Iranian capital, friends and relatives say.


Kazemi called her mother in the town of Shiraz in southern Iran to say she had been detained, Hachemi said from Montreal. He said she was beaten up about two weeks ago while still in police custody.


Friends who visited her in a hospital Tuesday said she was unconscious, with severe cuts and bruises on her face and head.


Club- and knife-wielding hard-line vigilantes aligned with Iran's supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, battled with students and bystanders during a week of pro-reform protests last month in Iran, predominantly in Tehran.


Canadian Foreign Affairs Minister Bill Graham spoke to Hachemi on Saturday to "express his deep sorrow and regret" and offer the continued support of the Canadian government, Foreign Affairs spokeswoman Lillian Thomsen said.


"The minister has instructed the Canadian ambassador to meet with the Iranian foreign minister at the earliest possible time in order to obtain the cooperation of the Iranian authorities, and to reiterate our earlier request for an explanation of the circumstances surrounding the detention of Mrs. Kazemi and her injuries," Thomsen said.

http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&u=/ap/20030712/ap_on_re_mi_ea/iran_journalist_dies_1

[Drake Tungsten]

I hope the people of Iran overthrow that government soon.

[MichaeltheGreat]

Wonder how long they kept beating her after she was arrested?



*******s.

[Dis]

they beat a woman like that? WTF!

[The Mad Monk]

There's plenty more, hang on.

Son of photographer who died in Iran wants body returned to Canada
Sat Jul 12, 7:38 PM ET


MONTREAL (AFP) - The Canadian government and the son of a Canadian press photographer who died suddenly after her arrest by Iranian authorities in late June called for her body to be returned to Canada for an autopsy.



The death of 54-year old Zahra Kazemi, a freelance journalist who held dual Canadian and Iranian nationality, had been confirmed by the Iranian Culture Ministry. The ministry said she died from a stroke.


"We will help the family which has asked for the repatriation of the remains," Foreign Ministry spokesman Reynald Doiron told AFP. "The Canadian ambassador in Tehran has been instructed to meet with the Iranian foreign minister as soon as possible," he said.


Earlier Saturday Zahra Kazemi's son, Stephan Hashemi, told a press conference, "I want to insist on the return of Zahra's body to Canada. That is all that is important at this point."


A group of Iranian immigrants here, representing the Center for Thought, Dialogue and Human Rights in Iran, had written to Canada's minister of foreign affairs, Bill Graham, to demand "the immediate return to Canada" of Kazemi's body.


"Due to the bad record of the Iranian regime on human rights abuses and in order for them to try to prevent the truth being found regarding the suspicious death of Ms. Kamezi, it is necessary that her body be flown back to Canada for an autopsy," the group said in its letter.


According to the group, the photographer was detained around June 23 to 24 as she took photographs of the Evin prison in northern Tehran.


She was arrested by the Iranian authorities after snapping photographs of families demonstrating the arrests of student protestors outside the prison, an event the Iranian authorities said she was not authorized to cover.


Reporters Without Borders expressed its shock at Kazemi's death and held the Iranian authorities responsible for her death after what it described as her arbitrary arrest and lack of suitable medical attention.


Kazemi had been working on assignment in Iran for the British agency, Camera Press.

http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&u=/afp/20030712/wl_canada_afp/canada_iran_media_death_030712233822

[The Mad Monk]

It not enough to kill her, they hide her...

Canada Hunting for Body of Photographer in Iran
Mon Jul 14, 1:38 PM ET

By David Ljunggren

OTTAWA (Reuters) - Canadian diplomats in Tehran are hunting for the body of a Montreal-based freelance photographer who allegedly died from head wounds after being arrested, officials said on Monday.


Reuters Photo



They said that, contrary to earlier reports, 54-year-old Zahra Kazemi had not been buried. Disagreements between her mother and son over what to do with the body means Iranian authorities are likely to take a final decision.


Iranian President Mohammad Khatami (news - web sites) ordered on Sunday a probe into the death of Kazemi, who was arrested in late June after taking pictures of Tehran's notorious Evin jail, where many dissidents are jailed.


Kazemi's son and friends in Canada insist she was beaten into a coma and want the body returned so an autopsy can be carried out. But in Tehran, Kazemi's mother has already given permission for the body to be buried.


Ottawa is under increasing pressure from the family and activists in Montreal to ensure the return the body of Kazemi, a Canadian of Iranian descent.


"We're still verifying in Iran, through the Canadian embassy, where Ms Kazemi's remains are," a Canadian official told Reuters.


"Her remains are not buried yet. A final determination regarding the disposal of the remains -- i.e. whether they're going to be buried in Iran or whether they're going to be repatriated to Canada, as the son wishes -- will be in all likelihood a decision to be taken by a judicial body in Iran."


Kazemi's son, Stephan Hachemi, said he was sure Iranian officials had leaned on his grandmother to grant permission for the body to be buried quickly.


"My grandparents, my grandmother especially, have received a lot of pressure. She was forced, that's the proper word," he told reporters in Montreal late on Sunday.


Officials in Tehran said Kazemi fell ill after her interrogation started and died of "a brain attack."


Canada's ambassador in Tehran discussed the case on Monday with Iranian officials, who have so far blocked Ottawa's request that the envoy meet Foreign Minister Kamal Kharrazi.


The Canadian official said that even if a decision were to be taken to bury Kazemi, "given the probable judicial component of the whole situation, the burial might not be in sight (imminent)."


Hachemi said on Sunday he was not satisfied with the actions of Iran and Canada so far and activists insist Ottawa should be taking a tough stance with Tehran.


"There is a message from the Iranian government, despite their protestations to the contrary, and the message is: 'Don't mess with us'," said Joel Ruimy, head of Canadian Journalists for Free Expression.


"And that's why we have to be strong in our resolve to demand an independent inquiry and call Iran to task for its handling of this grotesque incident," he told CBC television.


The Iranian ambassador in Ottawa did not return calls seeking comment.

http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&u=/nm/20030714/wl_canada_nm/canada_iran_col_8

[The Mad Monk]

...and then do the 'autopsy' themselves...

Iran completes autopsy on dead Canadian journalist
Tue Jul 15,10:09 AM ET


TEHRAN (AFP) - A coroner in Iran has completed an autopsy on a Iranian-Canadian journalist who died after she was arrested by authorities here last month, it was reported.


AFP/File Photo



The state news agency IRNA said the findings have been passed on to a government panel investigating the death.


"After President Mohammad Khatami (news - web sites) asked for a quick review of Zahra Kazemi's case, her body was studied and the cause of her death officially announced to the cabinet and the judge presiding over the investigation," a source in Iran's coronor's office said, quoted by IRNA.


No details of the medical findings were given.


On Sunday, Khatami ordered four ministers to investigate the death of Kazemi, who was detained June 23 as she photographed families demonstrating outside Evin prison in northern Tehran in protest at the arrests of student protestors, an event the authorities said she was not authorised to cover.


The Canadian government and Kazemi's son called for her body to be returned to Canada for an autopsy. Her son is convinced the freelance photographer was tortured to death.


Iranian authorities say Kazemi fell ill while intelligence ministry agents were questioning her. She was transferred on June 26 to Baghiatollah Azam hospital where a "stroke" caused her death Friday.

http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&u=/afp/20030715/wl_canada_afp/iran_canada_media_030715140933

[David Floyd]

Methinks Iran might be getting a spanking sometime soon...

[Dis]

by Canada?

[The Mad Monk]

...and then bury her...

Canada toughens tone over journalist's death in Iran
Tue Jul 15, 2:04 PM ET


MONTREAL (AFP) - Canada toughened its stance on the death of a Canadian journalist after her arrest in Iran, demanding repatriation of the body and warning diplomatic ties could suffer unless Tehran was more frank on the cause of her death.


AFP/File Photo



Earlier Tuesday, Iran's IRNA news agency reported that a coroner in Iran had completed an autopsy on Zahra Kazemi, an Iranian-Canadian journalist who died after she was arrested by authorities while photographing a jail in Tehran last month.


The report did not reveal the autopsy findings, saying they had been passed to a government panel investigating the death, which in turn has ordered that the body not be buried until the probe has been completed.


Kazemi's family in Canada contends that she was tortured and beaten to death while in police custody and is demanding that her body be returned to Canada for an independent autopsy.


"It's a serious issue and it will be put in that context with the Iranian authorities," Deputy Prime Minister John Manley told reporters.


"This will be a setback if we can't resolve it," he said. "We believe the family, of course, deserves a full explanation for what happened. The body should be returned."


Kazemi's son, Stephan Hachemi, 26, claims his grandmother -- the mother of the victim, who lives in Iran -- was forced to signed papers authorising burial of the body in Shiraz in southern Iran.


But there was confusion as to whether the body was buried.


It was only after the burial was announced in Canada on Monday that IRNA filed its report that the government commission of inquiry had ordered the body not to be buried pending investigations ordered by Iranian President Mohammad Khatami (news - web sites).


Canadian government sources said the results of the post-mortem had not been received here by midday Tuesday.

http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&u=/afp/20030715/wl_canada_afp/iran_canada_media_reax_030715180400

It's nice to see Canada is not going to sit still for this, but what can they do, really?

I heard on the radio that she was trying to take photos of the imprisoned student leaders. There is a media clamp down in Tehran, it's becoming increasingly difficult to get word in or out.

[Nubclear]

Couldn't this be classified as an act of aggression against Canada? AKA, couldn't this give Canada a casus belli?

[The Mad Monk]

For diplomatic and economic action? Absolutely.

Probably not military, though that really isn't an option for them anyway.

[Drake Tungsten]

Probably not military, though that really isn't an option for them anyway.

Anyone think this incident will make the Canadians a little more supportive of America's hard-line on Iran?

[Nubclear]

Originally posted by Drake Tungsten

Probably not military, though that really isn't an option for them anyway.

Anyone think this incident will make the Canadians a little more supportive of America's hard-line on Iran?

I do. In fact, it makes me a little more supportive of it But currently America couldn't not sustain another war. Or another peace, for that matter.

[GePap]

A causus belli? Hardly. Citizens of one country are subject to the laws of whatever state they are in, unless they had some type of diplomatic immunity, plus the woman was also an Iranian citizen. If her treatment broke Iranian laws, then it would fall upon Iran to punish the guilty 9as likely as that is).

Now, the Canadian gov. can impose sanctions if it whishes, though that is highly unlikely. At best, the family in Canad could try to sue the Iranian gov, if Canada has such laws in the books. I wonder what the Iranian commision will report?