woensdag, februari 09, 2005
Iranian ambassador admits Kazemi was killed
Iran's ambassador to Britain yesterday admitted that Canadian photojournalist Zahra Kazemi was murdered by Iranian security officials, radically reversing the official position of the Iranian judiciary which has said her death was an accident.
Seyyed Mohammad Hossein Adeli was speaking at Saint Antony's College at the University of Oxford, where he was asked about Ms. Kazemi's death. "I don't support the killing by some shrewd security forces of that lady," he said. "We are sorry for it."
Mr. Adeli's startling statement contradicts the formal explanation for Ms. Kazemi's death given last July by Iranian authorities, following the acquittal "due to lack of sufficient evidence," of Mohammad Reza Aghdam Ahmadi, an intelligence ministry agent who had been charged in her death.
At the time, the hardline judiciary claimed Mr. Ahmadi's acquittal proved that Ms. Kazemi died when she fainted and hit her head. "The only suspect in this quasi-intentional murder of Zahra Kazemi was innocent, so there remains only one other option," its statement said.
"This is that the incident leading to the death of the late Kazemi was because of a drop in her blood pressure caused by her hunger strike, thus making her fall from a standing position and get hurt."
In 2003, Ms. Kazemi, an Iranian-Canadian photojournalist, was working in Iran with the permission of the Iranian government.
On June 23, she was arrested taking photographs outside the Evin Prison in Tehran, where demonstrators were protesting the incarceration of students and other democrats. Ms. Kazemi was arrested and taken inside the Evin Prison, where she was subjected to more than three days of interrogation. Four days later she was taken to a hospital, bleeding from her nose and mouth. She died on July 10.
By admitting that Ms. Kazemi was killed and did not die because of an accident, Iran's ambassador acknowledged that this version of events is essentially correct.
Bron: Canada.com.
Seyyed Mohammad Hossein Adeli was speaking at Saint Antony's College at the University of Oxford, where he was asked about Ms. Kazemi's death. "I don't support the killing by some shrewd security forces of that lady," he said. "We are sorry for it."
Mr. Adeli's startling statement contradicts the formal explanation for Ms. Kazemi's death given last July by Iranian authorities, following the acquittal "due to lack of sufficient evidence," of Mohammad Reza Aghdam Ahmadi, an intelligence ministry agent who had been charged in her death.
At the time, the hardline judiciary claimed Mr. Ahmadi's acquittal proved that Ms. Kazemi died when she fainted and hit her head. "The only suspect in this quasi-intentional murder of Zahra Kazemi was innocent, so there remains only one other option," its statement said.
"This is that the incident leading to the death of the late Kazemi was because of a drop in her blood pressure caused by her hunger strike, thus making her fall from a standing position and get hurt."
In 2003, Ms. Kazemi, an Iranian-Canadian photojournalist, was working in Iran with the permission of the Iranian government.
On June 23, she was arrested taking photographs outside the Evin Prison in Tehran, where demonstrators were protesting the incarceration of students and other democrats. Ms. Kazemi was arrested and taken inside the Evin Prison, where she was subjected to more than three days of interrogation. Four days later she was taken to a hospital, bleeding from her nose and mouth. She died on July 10.
By admitting that Ms. Kazemi was killed and did not die because of an accident, Iran's ambassador acknowledged that this version of events is essentially correct.
Bron: Canada.com.
# posted by Jan-Edward : 11:58
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