Zahra Kazemi

Zahra Kazemi (* 1949 in Shiraz ; † July 11, 2003 ) was an Iranian - Canadian photojournalist. She studied in France . She had been a Canadian citizen since 1997.

arrest

She was arrested on June 23, 2003 while photographing Evin Prison . Among other things, the Iranian intelligentsia sits in it.

After being severely tortured, she was sent to Baghiyyatollah al-Azam Military Hospital. Among other things, she had been raped, fingernails were torn out, fingers of her hand were broken, the bone of the nose was broken and an eardrum had burst. She was in a coma because of her skull injuries. After about two weeks on July 11, 2003, the life-extending measures were ended. The body was buried against the will of his son (Stephan Kazemi), who also lives in Canada, in the Iranian city of Shiraz . At the instigation of Kazemi's mother, who lives in Iran, a parliamentary investigation was opened in Tehran. Due to international pressure, then President Mohammed Khatami also set up a five-person commission.

Contradictions in the published reports

The parliamentary investigation report explains the illegality of the arrest and detention of Kazemi and found that Said Mortasawi - the prosecutor in charge of the case - tried to cover up the causes of death. An Information Ministry official summoned before the parliamentary commission said he had cited stroke as the cause of death because Said Mortasawi had threatened him with arrest. The report also notes statements from prison guards that Kazemi was knocked unconscious shortly after her arrest when the prison's security chief, Mohammed Bachschi , tried to take her camera bag from her. The second report of the ministerial committee does not mention these points. According to the report, Kazemi was arrested for refusing to hand over her photographic equipment to the authorities and to return to her hotel. The report did not address the causes of the head injuries, but described Kazemi's death as a coincidence.

In an interview with the newspaper “ Jungle World ” in February 2011, the former Iranian diplomat Abolfazl Eslami, directly involved in the Kazemi case, essentially confirmed the torture allegations against the Iranian authorities: “They told me that if we would return the body, they could Forensic experts in Canada are still using X-rays to determine fractures in the bones despite the decomposition. They would find out what happened to Zahra Kazemi in prison and then cause the Islamic Republic an international scandal. They even admitted that hard objects were shoved into her vagina and that forensic experts could determine that too. "

process

In a 2003 trial in which the Nobel Prize winner Schirin Ebadi represented the Kazim family as a lawyer, Mohammad Reza Aghdam Ahmadi was named as a murderer, but acquitted. In the same trial, statements by the mother’s mother identified the Iranian Attorney General Said Mortasawi as a possible murderer. Mortasawi is said to have been present in person when Kazemi was interrogated. A representative of Mortasawi allegedly raped Kazemi.

consequences

In 2006 the Canadian government asked Germany to arrest the Attorney General Said Mortasawi on his return flight from Geneva while changing trains in Frankfurt. Mortasawi had attended the meeting of the UN Human Rights Council in Geneva. Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper justified the request with Mortasawi's involvement in the murder case.

Web links

• official website

Individual evidence

1. ↑ ^{a b c d} Haideh Daragahi and Arne Ruth: Death in the torture cell , Die Zeit , March 31, 2005
2. ↑ Carl Melchers: "You have to understand, you are very afraid - Abolfazl Eslami in conversation about Iranian foreign policy" , Jungle World No. 6, February 10, 2011
3. ↑ Daily newspaper Der Tagesspiegel : Canada: Berlin is supposed to arrest Iranians , June 24, 2006
4. ↑ AP: Germany called on to arrest Iran's attorney general - Canada applies for the death of a journalist ( memento of October 12, 2007 in the Internet Archive ), Internet newspaper 123recht.net , June 23, 2006