vrijdag, juli 11, 2003
Zahra Kazemi, a Quebec photojournalist who was arrested and reportedly beaten into a coma in Iran, is brain dead, says her son Stephan Hachemi. A Canadian official phoned him from Tehran Thursday night to inform him of his mother's condition. Hachemi says the report by an Iranian doctor might not be totally accurate and he was holding out hope his mother might recover.
"We're all going to try to... make sure that the report is exact, which I doubt," Hachemi told CTV from Montreal. "We have no direct contact with her. We only know what the doctor likes to tell us."
But Canadian authorities told Canadian Press Friday they have been told that Kazemi's condition has not changed. "Our consular staff phoned up the hospital this morning to be told that the medical situation has not changed,'' Foreign Affairs department official Reynald Doiron said. "She suffered a brain hemorrhage and she's in a deep coma. That's all that can be said."
Canadian embassy officials have seen Kazemi, 54, every day since Monday, according to Doiron. Their latest visit was Thursday, when they also met with the Iranian doctors treating her. Kazemi's family alleges the photographer suffered a brain injury during a violent police interrogation. Canada has officially asked Iran for a full explanation of what happened to Kazemi, who has both Canadian and Iranian nationality.
Doiron said Canadian Ambassador Philip MacKinnon will meet with senior Iranian officials in Tehran on Saturday to discuss the disturbing matter. And he said Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs Peter Harder has met with the Iranian ambassador to Canada. Foreign Affairs is also looking for a neurologist who could go to Tehran once the Iranian authorities have given permission.
According to newspaper reports, Kazemi was nabbed by police after taking photographs of the Elvin prison facility in northern Iran. She was branded a spy and subsequently assaulted by her police interrogators.
Kazemi has worked for the Montreal-based magazine Recto Verso on a freelance basis for about seven years. Hachemi says he last heard from his mother on the day before her arrest on June 23.
In her last email to her son, Kazemi described the anti-government student protests that engulfed the capital, sparking mass roundups and the detention of numerous journalists by security forces. "The country is living through nighttime upheavals that are ideal for photographers," Kazemi wrote.
Bron: CTV.
"We're all going to try to... make sure that the report is exact, which I doubt," Hachemi told CTV from Montreal. "We have no direct contact with her. We only know what the doctor likes to tell us."
But Canadian authorities told Canadian Press Friday they have been told that Kazemi's condition has not changed. "Our consular staff phoned up the hospital this morning to be told that the medical situation has not changed,'' Foreign Affairs department official Reynald Doiron said. "She suffered a brain hemorrhage and she's in a deep coma. That's all that can be said."
Canadian embassy officials have seen Kazemi, 54, every day since Monday, according to Doiron. Their latest visit was Thursday, when they also met with the Iranian doctors treating her. Kazemi's family alleges the photographer suffered a brain injury during a violent police interrogation. Canada has officially asked Iran for a full explanation of what happened to Kazemi, who has both Canadian and Iranian nationality.
Doiron said Canadian Ambassador Philip MacKinnon will meet with senior Iranian officials in Tehran on Saturday to discuss the disturbing matter. And he said Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs Peter Harder has met with the Iranian ambassador to Canada. Foreign Affairs is also looking for a neurologist who could go to Tehran once the Iranian authorities have given permission.
According to newspaper reports, Kazemi was nabbed by police after taking photographs of the Elvin prison facility in northern Iran. She was branded a spy and subsequently assaulted by her police interrogators.
Kazemi has worked for the Montreal-based magazine Recto Verso on a freelance basis for about seven years. Hachemi says he last heard from his mother on the day before her arrest on June 23.
In her last email to her son, Kazemi described the anti-government student protests that engulfed the capital, sparking mass roundups and the detention of numerous journalists by security forces. "The country is living through nighttime upheavals that are ideal for photographers," Kazemi wrote.
Bron: CTV.
# posted by Jan-Edward : 22:08
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