Ebadi Accuses Top Officials of Murder Cover-Up
Agence France Presse, Reuters, Arab News
TEHRAN, 29 July 2004 — Iran’s Nobel laureate and human rights lawyer Shirin Ebadi yesterday renewed her accusation that top officials in Iran’s hard-line judiciary had covered up the murder in custody of Canadian-Iranian photographer Zahra Kazemi.
A statement from the Nobel Peace Prize-winner and her team of lawyers who are representing Kazemi’s enraged family also urged the head of the Islamic republic’s judiciary to allow an independent probe into the controversial case.
The statement came after the judiciary claimed Kazemi’s death last July may have been an accident and not due to a beating. “We are insisting that the head of the judiciary appoint a special independent inquirer who is outside the supervision of the prosecution,” it said. “There is proof, including the statements of a number of witnesses present at the scene, saying a high-ranking official in Evin prison gave Zahra Kazemi a very strong punch to the left side of her head, breaking her skull,” it added.
“Why did the judiciary not welcome this suggestion? What we want to know is why some people want to cover it up,” demanded Ebadi and her team. “Why was the identity of the interrogator from 22:30 on 23 June to 0230 on June 24 concealed?” it asked. “Based on the papers in the case, the interrogation was conducted in the presence of Tehran’s public prosecutor and one of his deputies,” it added.
Tehran’s public prosecutor is Saeed Mortazavi, a hardliner who is also one of the most powerful figures inside the courts. “A number of guards identified who beat Zahra Kazemi, but after being threatened or bribed they changed their statements,” the statement said.
Ebadi was not immediately available to elaborate on the statement, which appeared to implicate Mortazavi in Kazemi’s killing. But speaking to AFP, Mohammad Ali Dadkhah — a member of her legal team — said the statement was merely raising questions rather than making allegations.
Extracts from a judiciary statement proposed a verdict of accidental death in the case of Kazemi. “The only option remaining for Kazemi’s death is it being an accident,” said the statement carried in the Sharq newspaper and on the ISNA students news agency.
The judiciary on Saturday acquitted an Iranian Intelligence Ministry agent on charges of “semi-intentional murder” and moved to close the case against him. That prompted protests from Canada, human rights groups and lawyers for Kazemi’s family.
“The glucose level in her blood must have dropped because of her hunger strike, she then fell to the side from a standing position and was struck,” the judiciary statement was reported to say. Iran’s reform-minded government on Monday volunteered to help the country’s judiciary find Kazemi’s killer, but the judiciary argued this was outside the government’s mandate.
TEHRAN, 29 July 2004 — Iran’s Nobel laureate and human rights lawyer Shirin Ebadi yesterday renewed her accusation that top officials in Iran’s hard-line judiciary had covered up the murder in custody of Canadian-Iranian photographer Zahra Kazemi.
A statement from the Nobel Peace Prize-winner and her team of lawyers who are representing Kazemi’s enraged family also urged the head of the Islamic republic’s judiciary to allow an independent probe into the controversial case.
The statement came after the judiciary claimed Kazemi’s death last July may have been an accident and not due to a beating. “We are insisting that the head of the judiciary appoint a special independent inquirer who is outside the supervision of the prosecution,” it said. “There is proof, including the statements of a number of witnesses present at the scene, saying a high-ranking official in Evin prison gave Zahra Kazemi a very strong punch to the left side of her head, breaking her skull,” it added.
“Why did the judiciary not welcome this suggestion? What we want to know is why some people want to cover it up,” demanded Ebadi and her team. “Why was the identity of the interrogator from 22:30 on 23 June to 0230 on June 24 concealed?” it asked. “Based on the papers in the case, the interrogation was conducted in the presence of Tehran’s public prosecutor and one of his deputies,” it added.
Tehran’s public prosecutor is Saeed Mortazavi, a hardliner who is also one of the most powerful figures inside the courts. “A number of guards identified who beat Zahra Kazemi, but after being threatened or bribed they changed their statements,” the statement said.
Ebadi was not immediately available to elaborate on the statement, which appeared to implicate Mortazavi in Kazemi’s killing. But speaking to AFP, Mohammad Ali Dadkhah — a member of her legal team — said the statement was merely raising questions rather than making allegations.
Extracts from a judiciary statement proposed a verdict of accidental death in the case of Kazemi. “The only option remaining for Kazemi’s death is it being an accident,” said the statement carried in the Sharq newspaper and on the ISNA students news agency.
The judiciary on Saturday acquitted an Iranian Intelligence Ministry agent on charges of “semi-intentional murder” and moved to close the case against him. That prompted protests from Canada, human rights groups and lawyers for Kazemi’s family.
“The glucose level in her blood must have dropped because of her hunger strike, she then fell to the side from a standing position and was struck,” the judiciary statement was reported to say. Iran’s reform-minded government on Monday volunteered to help the country’s judiciary find Kazemi’s killer, but the judiciary argued this was outside the government’s mandate.
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