July 30, 2003
Arrests still leave questions about senior Iranian official
Monday, July 28, 2003
TU THANH HA AND KAMYAR RAZAVI
MONTREAL -- News over the weekend that authorities in Iran have detained
five security agents in connection with the death in custody of the Montreal
photojournalist Zahra Kazemi leaves a crucial question unanswered: What will
happen to the high-ranking Iranian official who was alleged to have
personally beaten her?
Tehran's chief prosecutor, the hard-line conservative Saeed Mortazavi, was
present during some of the interrogation that followed Ms. Kazemi's arrest
last month in Tehran, according to the official Iranian ministerial inquiry
into her death.
Ms. Kazemi's son and her supporters in Canada maintain that Mr. Mortazavi
played a key role in the ill-treatment and death of the 54-year-old
journalist.
According to an Iranian journalist who has spoken to a number of sources in
Iran, Mr. Mortazavi tried to force Ms. Kazemi to sign a statement admitting
she was a spy, then, when she refused, beat her in anger.
The Iranian journalist Ali Nourizadeh said he spoke to several judiciary
sources in Tehran, including someone working at Evin prison, where Ms.
Kazemi was first arrested and questioned.
He said he was told Ms. Kazemi was punched and kicked, even after she had
fallen down. Afterward, he said, her request to see a doctor was ignored.
Mr. Nourizadeh's account concurs with several points in the official inquiry
report, which says Ms. Kazemi was questioned at length although she
complained of feeling faint and weak.
The report said her skull had been fractured by a blow to the left side of
the head. But, according to the report, it was only after she began bleeding
from the nose and vomiting blood that she was taken to hospital, 36 hours
after being hit.
Mr. Nourizadeh said he has been told that Mr. Mortazavi wanted Ms. Kazemi to
confess that she was a spy. "Mortazavi went to her and put a statement in
front of her and said 'sign it' " Mr. Nourizadeh said. "Mrs. Kazemi refused.
Some time after midnight, Mr. Mortazavi was so angry, he himself started to
attack Mrs. Kazemi and he beat her badly."
The government inquiry hints that Ms. Kazemi's interrogators accused her of
being more than a mere photojournalist. "She claimed the questions has (sic)
nothing to do with her occupation," the inquiry report said.
The report also says she was so distraught at one point that, as she
recognized the voice of one of her interrogators, she started to "scream and
swear."
A freelance photographer with dual Canadian and Iranian citizenship, Ms.
Kazemi travelled to Tehran on her Iranian passport, like most expatriates,
because it is easier to obtain a visa. She didhad a foreign reporter's
permit from Tehran's Foreign Press Service.
Ms. Kazemi's ordeal began outside Evin prison on June 23 when she was
arrested as she snapped pictures of inmates' relatives.
The inquiry report hints at a battle of wills between a defiant Ms. Kazemi
and her captors, beginning with the moment she was ordered to hand over her
camera. She opted instead to yank out the roll of film to erase her
pictures.
She only drank water and stopped eating following her arrest, the report
said.
The report said Ms. Kazemi first spent 21 hours in the prosecutor's office
in the prison, then 26 hours with the police, four more hours with the
prosecutor, then 26 hours with intelligence experts.
At that last stage, "she only complains of weakness and felt a bit faint,"
the report said. A doctor examined her around 4:30 p.m., on June 26.
She underwent more interrogation until she vomited blood and had to be taken
to hospital at 11:30 p.m. that night. The next day, she was declared brain
dead.
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