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| Iran Clears Agent Accused of Kazemi Killing: Lawyer |
| 2004-07-24 |
| An Iranian court has acquitted an intelligence agent who was charged with the "semi-intentional murder" of Canadian-Iranian journalist Zahra Kazemi who died in custody last year, the man's lawyer said on Saturday. "I was informed by reliable official sources at the judiciary that he has been acquitted," Qasem Shabani, lawyer for Intelligence Ministry agent Mohammad Reza Aqdam, told Reuters. The trial, which ended abruptly last Sunday after just three court sessions, has exposed Iran's human rights record and judicial processes to intense international scrutiny. The case has soured Iran's relations with Canada and exposed deep rifts between President Mohammad Khatami's reformist government and the hardline judiciary. Shabani said it would be up to lawyers acting for Kazemi's family, who include Nobel Peace Prize laureate Shirin Ebadi, to decide whether they wish to pursue charges against any other suspects for Kazemi's death. Kazemi, 56, an Iranian-born photographer was arrested last June for taking photographs of Tehran's Evin prison. After more than three days of interrogations she was submitted to hospital where she slipped into a coma and died. Iran's judiciary initially announced that she had died naturally of a stroke. But a subsequent government inquiry showed Kazemi had received a blow to the head while in detention that split her skull and caused a brain hemorrhage. |
| Posted by:TS(vice girl) |
| #1 Was the verdict ever in doubt? In addition to torture, she was probably raped. http://www.daneshjoo.org/article/publish/printer_3062.shtml The federal government and Lawyers without Borders are looking into allegations that Iranian interrogators raped a Montreal photo-journalist before killing her, then pumped chemicals into her body to speed decomposition. |
| Posted by: ed 2004-07-24 4:23:27 PM |