Ottawa scolds Iran for secrecy
Controversial Tehran prosecutor refuses to release Kazemi report
Michael Friscolanti
National Post
Thursday, August 28, 2003
Canada's Foreign Affairs Minister yesterday scolded Iran for refusing to disclose key details about the murder of Zahra Kazemi, saying he is "profoundly disappointed" with the country's continuing secrecy over the case.
Bill Graham's stern rebuke came after what turned out to be a fruitless meeting at the Canadian Embassy in Iran between consular officials and Tehran's chief prosecutor -- the man many believe personally delivered the beating that ultimately killed the Montreal photojournalist.
For a tense and often confrontational 90 minutes, Gilles Poirier, the embassy's chargé d'affaires, sat across from General Saeed Mortazavi, pressuring him to release the official report into Ms. Kazemi's death.
Gen. Mortazavi's adamant refusal came as little surprise to observers, many of whom suspect he has extremely personal motives to hide the truth.
"Although Canada has made repeated requests, the Iranian government has yet to provide us with the investigative report on Ms. Kazemi's death," Mr. Graham said in a statement yesterday. "This is not the co-operation and transparency that Canada has insisted on and that I have been promised."
Mr. Graham, who was in Denver for a NORAD-related meeting, said the government will continue to push Iran.
"The matter isn't over," his statement read. "Canada will continue to use every opportunity to see that justice is done for Ms. Kazemi and that the wishes of her family to have her remains returned to Canada are respected."
During yesterday's meeting, Mr. Poirier asked the prosecutor for information about two female intelligence agents who have been charged in connection with the case. He also asked if Judge Javad Esmaeili, who is conducting an inquiry into the murder, has completed his probe.
Gen. Mortazavi was largely evasive. He indicated the report could be completed sometime in September, but provided few other details.
"He didn't give any information," said France Bureau, a spokeswoman for Mr. Graham. "He didn't confirm anything."
Reports have suggested Gen. Mortazavi, known as "the butcher of the press," was present during the assault that plunged Ms. Kazemi into a coma and eventually led to her death.
Mr. Poirier, however, did not question Gen. Mortazavi about his alleged personal involvement in the beating -- highlighting the dubious situation in which the Canadian government finds itself: It is desperate to know what happened to the 54-year-old freelance journalist, but one of its primary sources of information is a man many have linked to her death.
Ms. Kazemi, an Iranian ex-patriot and Canadian citizen, was arrested on June 23 for snapping pictures of Tehran's Evin prison.
After a violent 77-hour interrogation by several levels of the Iranian government, she was transported to hospital with a brain hemorrhage. She died on July 10 and was later buried -- against the wishes of her family -- in her hometown of Shiraz.
Iranian officials initially denied any responsibility for her death, insisting she suffered a stroke. They later confirmed she was killed.
Ms. Kazemi's murder, which triggered international outrage, has strained relations between Tehran and Ottawa. Canada recalled its ambassador in protest.
The case has also exposed the escalating rift between Iran's hardline conservative judiciary and its elected reformists -- a battle that has intensified with allegations of cover-up.
On Monday, Gen. Mortazavi's office said two women at the reformist-controlled Intelligence Ministry were to stand trial for the Ms. Kazemi's murder.
Yesterday, several reformist MPs insisted the women were being sacrificed as scapegoats to protect officials in the judiciary. One, Mohsen Armin, did not outright accuse Gen. Mortazavi of being involved, but he did point out the chief prosecutor questioned Ms. Kazemi for more than four hours after her arrest.
Reformist legislator Naser Qavami told The Associated Press yesterday a top Intelligence Ministry official advised a closed meeting of the Iranian parliament a judiciary official working in the prison had beaten Ms. Kazemi, leading to her death.
The legislator said ministry officials also accused the judiciary of moving prison officers who witnessed the beating to different positions and pressuring them not to say what they saw.
During the closed parliament session, the officials also accused the judiciary of tampering with prison records and forcing Intelligence agents to accept responsibility for the murder.
Hamid Mojtahedi, a Toronto-based lawyer who met with Gen. Mortazavi this week, said such accusations are not surprising.
"Mortazavi himself is implicated in all of these issues and he is trying very hard to push it under the table and hide the facts," said Mr. Mojtahedi, of the human rights group Lawyers Without Borders.
Mr. Mojtahedi said Gen. Mortazavi even threatened to arrest him. "His exact words were: 'If you really are interested to know how our legal system works, I can give you a close look at it by locking you up,' " Mr. Mojtahedi said.
Observers described yesterday's developments as unprecedented, but they doubt the reformists would go so far as actually release what they claim to be the truth behind the beating. Such a disclosure would crumble the entire regime, they said, forcing Iran to reveal what really happened to hundreds of other people who have been secretly murdered in the country.
"If such a thing happened, it would be one of the biggest, incredible things that could happen," said Aryo Pirouznia of the Dallas-based Student Movement Coordination Committee for Democracy in Iran, a group aiming to replace the current Islamic regime. "If such a report is released, then, my God, it's going to create a Pandora's box. The whole system would come undone."
Marlys Edwardh, a Toronto-based lawyer who represents Ms. Kazemi's only son, Stephan Hachemi, said she is also amazed by the events in Iran over the past day.
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