Iranians arrest five in Kazemi's death
Canadian government awaits confirmation. Security agents suspected of involvement in fatal beating of Montreal photojournalist
JACK AUBRY and BINDU SURESH
CanWest News Service; The Gazette
Five Iranian security agents have been arrested in the death of Montreal journalist Zahra Kazemi, who died in police custody on July 10, radio reports in Iran said yesterday.
Quoting a statement issued by Iran's judiciary, the state-run radio station said the officers were detained Friday after "comprehensive investigations" into Kazemi's death.
A spokesperson for Foreign Affairs Minister Bill Graham said the department was seeking confirmation of the reports but it was not expected until today. "If the minister is able to confirm the reports, it would be a development that we would welcome," said Isabelle Savard, Graham's aide.
Earlier in the day, Graham had met with Philip MacKinnon, Canada's ambassador to Iran, who had been recalled by the government in protest of the Iranian government's handling of the case.
In Montreal yesterday, more than 300 people signed a petition supporting Stephan Hachemi's plea to have his mother's body exhumed and returned to Canada.
Lucie Vachon, an artist who contributed to the same magazines as Kazemi, travelled from Quebec City to organize the petition. "We did this so Stephan can see that people from all over the world - pulled from Montreal's sidewalks - support him," she said. "It will hopefully give him the courage to continue."
"If my mother were dead, I'd want her to be close by," said Hachemi supporter Marie-Andrée Desrochers.
"Bringing her back is the only way to find out what happened," Montrealer Jennifer Warren said as she signed the petition.
Along with the apparent announcement of arrests in the Kazemi case, however, the Iranian government continued to pursue the case of an Iranian teenager who was shot to death in a Vancouver suburb on July 14.
In Tehran yesterday, the government summoned Canada's chargé d'affaires, Gilles Poirier, to further protest the death.
Graham has already sent a diplomatic note to the Iranian Embassy outlining the "open and transparent" fashion with which the Canadian investigation has been conducted, urging the same treatment in Iran in the Kazemi case.
The identities of the five officers and the name of the Iranian agency they worked for were not revealed in the radio report.
Kazemi died nearly three weeks after she was detained for taking photographs outside a Iranian prison.
Iran's vice-president had announced that Kazemi had died from a beating.
A presidential committee investigating her death said the photojournalist had complained of punishment by guards and had died of a fractured skull and the subsequent brain hemorrhage caused by a blow from "a hard object."
Savard said even if the arrest is confirmed, Canada remains "very determined" to retrieve Kazemi's remains, as requested by her family.
"We still want the body because, for one thing, we know how important it is to allow closure for the family," she said.
Keyvan Tabesh, an 18-year-old Iranian who had been living in Canada for about two years, was fatally shot by a plainclothes officer in Port Moody. Police said Tabesh, of Burnaby, B.C., was waving a machete and running at a police officer when he was shot.
Dr. Nasser Tabesh, the teen's father, told the Islamic Republic News Agency in New York that he plans to sue the officer who shot his son, adding that his son was "absolutely innocent" in the incident.
He alleged that his son was shot without warning from the undercover officer, who did not look like a police officer and did not identify himself before shooting.
Iran's Foreign Minister Kamal Kharrazi accused Canadian police of criminal action and demanded an investigation into the death.
Ottawa Citizen
© Copyright 2003 Montreal Gazette
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