Sham trial deplored in Kazemi murder case 

Reporters Without Borders today denounced what it called a sham trial in the murder of Iranian-Canadian journalist Zahra Kazemi after a Teheran court on 24 July cleared intelligence agent Mohammad Reza Aghdam Ahmadi of the crime.  It called for the truth to be disclosed about the killing at an appeal hearing. "The real killers have never been pursued," it said. "International pressure must now force the authorities to deal with and solve the case properly and see that those responsible are punished."  The Kazemi family's lawyers said they would appeal and Kazemi's son Stephan Hachemi has asked the Canadian government to take the Iranian regime before the International Court in The Hague for the killing. Hachemi said the latest verdict was designed to cover up who the real murderers were. Kazemi's mother said during the trial that her daughter had been tortured to death by interrogators.  Canadian diplomats were barred from the second day of the trial despite the promises of the authorities. The family's lawyers were also unable to get top officials of the judiciary to testify. Kazemi reportedly died in the hands of aides of the hardline Teheran prosecutor, Judge Said Mortazevi, who is said to have directly taken part in interrogating her.   The head of the judiciary, Mahmud Hashemi Shahrudi, and intelligence minister Ali Younessi set up a committee last December to look into the murder, but Reporters Without Borders denounced the move as a bid to cover things up. The worldwide press freedom organisation said the 24 July verdict confirmed this suspicion. ___________________________________ 18.07.04 Reporters Without Borders disgusted by sham trial in Kazemi murder case Reporters Without Borders said today it was "disgusted" by the Iranian regime's halting the trial of the supposed killer of Canadian-Iranian journalist Zahra Kazemi. The case was stopped on 18 July, the second day of its resumption after a gap of nine months. "We are appalled at this denial of justice," the international press freedom organisation said. "The Iranian judiciary has displayed intolerable cynicism and hypocrisy in a case which the world sees as a test of intent by the Iranian regime, which has been unanimously condemned by international human rights organisations. "By turning the trial into a mockery, the authorities have once more totally discredited themselves and deserve to have sanctions imposed on them," it said. Reporters Without Borders welcomed the reaction of Canada which, for the third time in connection with the case, announced after the trial curtailment the recall of its ambassador (Philip MacKinnon) in protest. It urged Canada to keep up strong pressure on Iran. The organisation also renewed its call to the European Union to impose tough economic and political sanctions on the regime, whose repeated human rights violations it said were incompatible with the official EU-Iranian dialogue begun in 2001. Kazemi was arrested on 23 June 2003 as she was taking pictures of prisoners' families outside Evin prison, north of Teheran. She was ill-treated in detention and died of her injuries on 10 July. After trying to cover up the cause of death, the authorities admitted on 16 July that she had been "beaten." Her body was hastily buried on 22 July in the southern town of Shiraz, against the wishes of her Canadian son Stephan. Her mother, who lives in Iran, admitted being pressured to allow burial in Iran. Requests for the body to be exhumed and returned to Canada have been refused.