Reporters Without Borders demands enquiry intowhy jailed woman journalist is in a coma

Reporters Without Borders called today on the Iranian authorities to thoroughly and urgently investigate why imprisoned journalist Zahra Kazemi was in a coma, apparently after having a stroke. It said it was extremely concerned at the report about the 54-year-old journalist, who has both Canadian and Iranian nationality, and urged the government to grant her family's request for a foreign doctor to examine her and allow her to be flown to Canada for treatment. Kazemi was reportedly arrested while taking photos on the northern outskirts of Teheran on her way to Turkmenistan for a journalistic assignment. Her family had no news of her for three days and then was told she had been taken to the city's Baghiatollah Hospital because she had had a stroke. The authorities are believed to have accused her of spying. Canadian diplomats, along with her mother, have been allowed to visit her and have reported she is in a coma.