'Brain attack' -- or murder?

Until late last week, Bill Sampson was Canada's best-known human rights victim. Arrested in Saudi Arabia in late 2000 for his alleged role in two bombings, Mr. Sampson has spent the past two-and-a-half years in prison. Although the Saudis have not yet released any evidence linking him to the crimes, he was found guilty by secret trial last year and sentenced to death. Our government was not even informed of the verdict until several months later. That followed what appeared to be a forced confession on Saudi television in 2001, and allegations of torture.

Now it appears another Canadian may have been subjected to equally appalling treatment in another Muslim, Middle Eastern country. After being arrested last month for taking pictures of Tehran's Evin jail, Iranian-born, Montreal-based photojournalist Zahra Kazemi died in custody about three days later under suspicious circumstances. According to the official Iranian news agency, Ms. Kazemi was ill during the first stages of her police interrogation and suffered a "brain attack" after being taken to hospital. But Ms. Kazemi's son and other friends and family believe she fell into a coma from head wounds inflicted by interrogators. Given Iran's atrocious human rights record, that theory hardly strains credulity.

Mohammed Khatami, the Iranian President, has announced that four Cabinet ministers will participate in an official probe into Ms. Kazemi's death, suggesting he is at least taking the incident seriously. One of the questions they should answer is why Ms. Kazemi's relatives were denied direct contact with her before she died. Were they kept behind a glass partition at the hospital so they could not observe wounds she might have suffered?

Even now, Tehran is fighting to keep Ms. Kazemi's body in Tehran, against the wishes of her son. According to Canada's ambassador, Iran is arguing that it does not recognize joint citizenship -- and is therefore under no obligation to treat Ms. Kazemi as a Canadian. But it appears more likely its authorities fear the results of a Canadian autopsy. And while the Iranian government insists Ms. Kazemi's mother has requested that the body be kept in Iran for burial, her family here has suggested she was coerced into giving that response.

For Ms. Kazemi's family to get the answers it deserves, it will be imperative for our federal government to adopt a more activist approach than it has in the Sampson case. Although Mr. Sampson is a biochemist with no known history of criminal involvement, Canadian officials seemed to be walking on eggshells with the Saudis -- and were practically mute until the Post and other media outlets made an issue of Mr. Sampson's ordeal. Thankfully, the early signs suggest there will not be a repeat of this diffident performance: Whereas it was at one point left to junior minister Don Boudria to take the lead on the Sampson case, John Manley, the Deputy Prime Minister, has already spoken strongly on the Kazemis' behalf.

To get results from a country with little interest in exposing its own human rights violations, Mr. Manley and others will need to be persistent in their pursuit of justice. A Canadian journalist may have been murdered, and the case deserves our government's full attention.

http://www.irna.ir/en/tnews/030717225312.etn00.shtml

Canadian FM discusses death of Iranian journalist with Kharrazi

Tehran, July 16, IRNA -- Canadian Foreign Minister Bill Graham held telephone talks with his Iranian counterpart Kamal Kharrazi on Wednesday over the death of an Iranian photojournalist, who worked for Canada's Camera Press magazine.

Graham praised Iranian President Mohammad Khatami for taking measures, aimed at bringing the cause of the death to light and hoped that the results of the probe would be announced in the earliest, as demanded by Kazemi's relatives in Canada.

Kharrazi stressed that "the Islamic Republic of Iran is sensitive and committed to the fate of its nationals" and assured that officials "will act very seriously and firmly" in establishing the cause of the death as soon as possible.

He, however, said that "every body has to wait so that the real cause of Mrs. Kazemi's death is clarified".

Earlier in the day, Government spokesman Abdollah Ramezanzadeh rejected Canada's request to transfer the journalist's body to that country, saying "Mrs. Kazemi is an Iranian citizen and in this case we will act according to the will of her family".

"In our view, no foreign government has the right to make any special comment in this regard, given the Iranian nationality of Mrs. Kazemi," he told reporters.

Ramezanzadeh, however, pledged that the government would hand over probable culprits in the death case to the Judiciary, which he said, has to deal with them.

"If it is proved that an offense has been committed, the violators must be confronted and this is the government's demand," he said.

Vice President for legal affairs, Mohammad-Ali Abtahi, also announced the results of an autopsy, ordered by the government, concluding that Kazemi had died "of a brain hemorrhage as a result of a blow".

"The committee, which has been formed on the order of President (Mohammad Khatami), is following up the matter to see how and where this happened," he told reporters after a cabinet session.

Ministry of Culture had said that the journalist was arrested last month while illegally taking pictures from Evin prison in Tehran and whisked away to Information (Intelligence) Ministry, where he felt unwell and was taken to hospital.

Several days later, she was pronounced dead from brain stroke on July 11, the head of the ministry's foreign media office, Mohammad-Hossein Khoshvaqt said.

It was then that President Khatami ordered Iran's four ministries of intelligence, interior, culture and justice to form a special committee and bring the cause of the death to light.

On Tuesday, the ad hoc committee ruled against plans to bury Kazemi's body and stopped it until investigations into the cause of the death were final.

An informed source told IRNA Tuesday, that the committee had rejected a request from Zahra Kazemi's mother to transfer the body from the coroner's office to her birthplace in Shiraz for interring.

The source, who spoke on the condition of anonymity, also said that the committee has categorically rejected the burial as long as the cause of the journalist's death is not established.

The announcement came as some news agencies and websites alleged that Kazemi had been buried in Shiraz after the coroner's office had issued a death certificate.

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