How she died: The murder of Canadian photojournalist Zahra Kazemi in Iran

http://www.canada.com/ottawa/ottawacitizen/news/story.html?id=9bb94f6f-3ef0-4f5b-ae1e-9d03d461b019

Michael Petrou
The Ottawa Citizen
May 22, 2004

TEHRAN - Heshmatollah Tabarzadi will never forget Canadian photojournalist Zahra Kazemi screaming in a nearby cell.

Mr. Tabarzadi, an Iranian political dissident, was arrested last June on the same day as Ms. Kazemi and, like her, thrown in cellblock 209 of Tehran's Evin prison, where Ms. Kazemi would be detained, interrogated and eventually murdered.

Mr. Tabarzadi remains in prison. But his son, Ali, a young man with a goatee and long, black hair gathered in a ponytail, has spoken with his father about those days.

"When Zahra Kazemi was in wing 209, my father heard her crying," Mr. Tabarzadi says.

On June 23 last year, friends and family members gathered at the prison gates to demand their release. Ms. Kazemi, an accredited journalist with permission from Iran's government to work in the country, was among them, taking photographs. She was arrested and detained with the students and political dissidents whose stories she had come to capture on film.

Four days later, in the middle of the night, Ms. Kazemi, 54, was taken from the prison to a hospital, unconscious and bleeding from her nose and mouth. Two weeks later, she was dead.

What happened to Ms. Kazemi during her four days incarcerated at Evin has been the subject of speculation and denial. The Iranian government first claimed she had died of a stroke, and then admitted she had been beaten to death. Mohammed Reza Ahmadi, an Intelligence Ministry agent, has been charged with "quasi-intentional murder." A trial is scheduled for July.

Until now it has been impossible to know much more than this. Iran is a closed society with no free press and no independent judiciary. The Iranian parliament's power is crippled by clerics. Indeed, many of the reformist MPs who had campaigned to discover the truth about Zahra Kazemi's murder were banned by the hardline Guardian Council from running for re-election this February.

But it is hard to keep secrets in a prison. And it is especially difficult at Evin.

"We are living in a country where for no reason they jail, kill and torture people," says Saeed Kalanaki, a student who was jailed at Evin at the same time as Ms. Kazemi. "They have shaped society to their own purposes, and they don't allow views other then their own orthodox way of thinking. For us young people, it has reached a point where we can't tolerate it anymore."

but what I more recently recall are the americans killing and bombing more than thirty journalist in iraq.

"We are living in a country where for no reason they jail, kill and torture people," says Saeed Kalanaki, a student who was jailed at Evin at the same time as Ms. Kazemi. "They have shaped society to their own purposes, and they don't allow views other then their own orthodox way of thinking. For us young people, it has reached a point where we can't tolerate it anymore."

That's Iran, not the United States.

Dude - I'm an Iranian American who really rejects what you've just said and disagree with your point completely. Your comment is no different than those who joked and laughed about the death of Nick Berg. If you wish to live your life by equating US actions with that of the Mullahs you keep on doing that, but there are millions upon millions around the world (and I'm talking left and right) who support the Iranian people despite whatever politician or party is in office here in the US. It doesn't matter who the damn president is - we must go after united agendas such as a 'Free Iran' and support freedom and progressive values in regions of the world that YES, the west has been a main cause of distress and short-sighted goals that have cause long-term problems, but NOW is the time to resolve the mistakes of the past.

For all of you who believe the Europeans are so great I tell you this, as someone who has studied international relations and world history for many years. The main reason why the EU doesn't want the Mullahs to be overthrown by the pro-freedom-loving Iranian people is because the Iranian people are incredibly angry at the Europeans for helping to keep the Mullahs in power for two decades and a future Iranian government will be HIGHLY ALLIED with the United States and will not be so agreeable with the Europeans in terms of oil. The EU is essentially exploiting the Iranian people day in and day out. How come I never hear anything or anyone condemning the Europeans?

Thank you for your post regarding Zahra Kazemi. There is no way around it - she was a Canadian citizen / and photo-journalist who was murdered by the Mullahs and their regime cronies in Iran. The regime has killed so many so many Iranians who are fighting for freedom and who are actually the most supportive people in Middle Eastern of the United States, because they know only through support from the United States will they be able to remove the chains which have been locked by the Mullahs and their allies in Nations around the world, most notably the EU powers, Russia and China - all who essentially get extremely cheap cheap oil from the Mullahs in exchange for security guarantees and pressur on the United States not to help the Iranian people. I am new to the Democratic Underground and would really like to know what Democrats thoughts are on the Issue of Iran and do they support the Iranian people and their struggle for a 'Free Iran', free from the fanatical Mullahs?

I ask this because I am an independent who is curious! - I also support neither Bush nor Kerry - I think they are both lowsy candidates and that it would matter little who was in office, because the broken structure or process would remain in place.

Anyhow - support for the Iranian people should definitely be a non-partisan issue and it would be great to see LEFT/RIGHT & CENTER come together in support of a people who are very much like Americans and want many of the same freedoms we have.

Interested to hear all of your thoughts!

Freepersia,

Great name

Don't bother trying to convince people because the minute you start talking about Iran they start discussing Iraq - too many Americans are too ignorant to understand that Iranians are Persians and not arabs. Nothing pisses me off more than discussing Iran's pro-Democracy movement without hearing some crap about Iraq - I want to interrupt the idiot and ask if it's okay everytime someone discusses US politics that i being mentioning what's happening in Canada or France and say well the Canadians and French did this so the Americans must also believe that. In fact, i think i'll do that from now on.

In the mean time - try telling people the only time Iranians voted in free and fair elections they elected a secularist in 1953 who was overthrown by the british MI6 and CIA - and that'll really get them - because in 1953 they could have sworn Saddam Hussein was ruling that country - heheh.

The last thing Iranians need is foreign intervention -

in their hatred for the mad Mullahs of Iran.

The only people that seek to aid them are patriots like Oliver North and Chalabi. ;-)

Seriously, though, Bush tries to politicize issues of national security, and then accuses people who disagree with aspects of his approach of trying to undermine the war on terror. So, people have a different reaction when Iran and N. Korea are mentioned, because they have been used as partisan weapons here.

Most people suspect, especially ex post Iraq, that the best way to bring down the Mullahs is to encourage dialogue with the people of Iran while making a point of letting Iranians, and not American neocons and their erstwhile stooges/allies, determine the future of Iran.

The Iranian people deserve much better than the government they have, and I am confident the days of the Mullahs are numered.