Shahpour Rahanam takes part in a candlelight vigil on Parliament Hill in July, 2003 for for Zahra Kazemi, a journalist killed in Iran. (Chris Wattie/Canadian Press)
Iranian-Canadian photojournalist Zahra Kazemi died in Iranian custody on July 11, 2003, almost three weeks after she was arrested for taking pictures outside a prison during a student protest in Tehran.
Quick facts
Born: Shiraz, Iran.
Died: July 10, 2003
Age at death: 54
Fled Iran: 1974. From there she moved to France, before landing in Montreal in 1993. She held joint Iran-Canadian citizenship. Profession: Freelance journalist. She did shoots in the West Bank, Jordan, Cote d'Ivoire, Libya, Iraq, Iran and Afghanistan. Most recently, Kazemi freelanced for Montreal-based alternative magazine Recto-Verso. "She would expose anything she felt was unjust, especially regarding women's conditions," said Melanie Navarro, a colleague at the magazine.
Two days later, Iran's official news agency reported that Kazemi had died in hospital, after suffering a stroke while she was being interrogated. On July 16, 2003, the story changed. Mohammad Ali Abtahi, Iran's vice-president, conceded that Kazemi died as a result of being beaten.
Later, the Iranian government would charge an Iranian security agent in Kazemi's death. He was acquitted of a charge of "quasi-intentional murder. In July 2004, Iran's judiciary said the head injuries that killed Kazemi were the result of an "accident."
The case stayed under the radar screens of most Canadians until March 31, 2005, and the stunning revelations of Shahram Azam, a former staff physician in Iran's Defence Ministry. He said he examined Kazemi in hospital, four days after her arrest.
Azam said Kazemi showed obvious signs of torture, including:
- Evidence of a very brutal rape.
- A skull fracture, two broken fingers, missing fingernails, a crushed big toe and a broken nose.
- Severe abdominal bruising, swelling behind the head and a bruised shoulder.
- Deep scratches on the neck and evidence of flogging on the legs.
After Kazemi's death, Hachemi demanded that Iran return her body to Canada for burial – but Iran refused. He has also been critical of the federal government, saying Ottawa did not do enough to help his mother. He has demanded that Canada take the case to the International Court of Justice.
Here is a timeline of major events in the case:
Nov. 27, 2007:
Iran's Supreme Court orders a new investigation into the case, but the family's lawyer responds to the news with skepticism.
Nov. 16, 2005:
An Iranian appeals court orders the Kazemi case reopened. The court upholds the acquittal of intelligence agent Mohammad Reza Aghdam Ahmadi, but reopens the case "due to the possibility that some other people were involved" in Kazemi's death, Ahmadi's lawyer says.
- CBC STORY: Iran court orders Kazemi case reopened
July 25, 2005:
An Iranian court rejects an appeal to investigate Kazemi's death, saying it has no jurisdiction to reopen the case of a death already ruled unintentional.
June 7, 2005:
A library in Montreal shuts down an exhibition of Kazemi's photographs after complaints it was too sympathetic to the Palestinian uprising.
May 26, 2005:
The Opposition accuses the government of designating Iran's biggest opposition group, the People's Mojahedin, a terrorist organization in order to appease Tehran.
May 23, 2005:
Hachemi says he wants Canada to take his mother's case to the International Court of Justice in The Hague.
May 17, 2005:
Foreign Affairs Minister Pierre Pettigrew announces that until Iran agrees to an international investigation of Kazemi's death, Canada will cut off contact with Iran in all but three areas: the Kazemi case, Iran's human rights record and nuclear non-proliferation.
April 12, 2005:
Iran denies the Canadian government's demand to allow an international team of forensic scientists to examine Kazemi's body.
- CBC STORY: No forensic exam of Kazemi's remains: Iran
April 5, 2005:
Foreign Affairs Minister Pierre Pettigrew says he has asked Iran's foreign minister to allow a forensic examination of Kazemi's body. A Canadian government announcement calls her death "murder."
- CBC STORY: Ottawa seeks forensic examination of Kazemi
March 31, 2005:
Shahram Azam, a former staff physician in Iran's Defence Ministry, says he examined Kazemi four days after her arrest. He says she showed obvious signs of torture, including evidence of a brutal rape, a fractured skull, two broken fingers, and severe abdominal bruising. Azam left Iran in August 2004 and made his way to Canada, where he was granted landed immigrant status as a refugee.
July 28, 2004:
Iran's judiciary says the head injuries that killed Kazemi were the result of an accident. "With the acquittal of the sole defendant, only one option is left: the death of the late Kazemi was an accident due to fall in blood pressure resulting from a hunger strike and her fall on the ground while standing," says a judiciary statement.
- CBC STORY: Kazemi's death an 'accident': Iranian judges
July 27, 2004:
Kazemi's son, Stephan Hachemi, meets with Foreign Affairs Minister Pierre Pettigrew, but doesn't get a commitment for action from Ottawa. "The minister failed me and failed to have my mother's rights respected," he says.
- CBC STORY: 'Minister failed me,' Kazemi's son says
July 25, 2004:
Stephan Hachemi rejects $12,000 in compensation for his mother's death from the Iranian government, calling it "blood money."
Foreign Affairs Minister Pierre Pettigrew says he is dissatisfied with the trial and acquittal of Kazemi's accused killer. "This trial has done nothing to answer the real questions about how Zahra Kazemi died or to bring the perpetrators of her murder to justice," he says in a statement.
July 24, 2004:
An Iranian court acquits intelligence agent Mohammad Reza Aghdam Ahmadi in Kazemi's death. Kazemi's son, Stephan Hachemi, calls on Ottawa "to bring justice to this case."
July 19, 2004:
Iranian journalists say a prosecutor warned them to censor their coverage of the trial of Kazemi's alleged killer.
July 18, 2004:
Canada again recalls its ambassador to Iran after a court in Tehran bans foreign observers from watching the second day of proceedings. The trial ends with no word of a verdict. The legal team representing Kazemi's mother refuses to sign the record of proceedings and leaves the courthouse in protest.
July 17, 2004:
Foreign observers are allowed to attend the trail of an Iranian agent charged in Kazemi's death. Canada's ambassador to Iran, Philip MacKinnon, has not yet left Tehran after being recalled and is among the observers.
- CBC STORY: Iran allows observers at Kazemi trial
At the trial, lawyers representing Kazemi's mother, including Nobel Laureate Shirin Ebadi, say prison official Mohammad Bakhshi, not the man on trial, tortured and killed her in a premeditated way. Iranian officials deny the claims.
Two reformist newspapers are forced to shut down when the trial begins.
July 14, 2004:
Foreign Affairs Minister Bill Graham says the Canadian government will not be allowed to attend the trial of an Iranian agent charged in Kazemi's death. He also announces that Canada's ambassador to Iran will be recalled. Graham says he plans to take the case to the UN's International Court of Justice.
- CBC STORY: Canada recalls ambassador from Iran
July 9, 2004:
At a memorial service in Kazemi's honour, her son, Stephan Hachemi, says the Canadian government hasn't done enough to solve her death.
June 12, 2004:
Nobel Prize winner Shirian Ebadi is barred from representing the family of Zahra Kazemi at the trial of the security agent charged with her death. Ebadi's name doesn't appear on a court list for the July hearing.
- CBC STORY: Nobel-winning lawyer barred from Kazemi case
May 8, 2004:
Stephan Hachemi, Kazemi's son, calls on Ottawa to get involved in the trial of his mother's alleged killer. He says only the Canadian government can ensure a fair trial.
- CBC STORY: Kazemi's son turns up pressure on Ottawa
Feb. 15, 2004:
The BBC reports that Kazemi would have survived the beating given to her had doctors been allowed to treat her. A hospital witness told the broadcaster that guards prevented medical staff from treating her.
- CBC STORY: Kazemi denied medical attention: BBC
Nov. 4, 2003:
Shirian Ebadi, an Iranian lawyer and former judge who won the 2003 Nobel Peace Prize, asks to represent Kazemi's family.
Oct. 28, 2003:
The Iranian Parliament implicates a chief Tehran prosecutor for failing to provide information and making incorrect statements about Kazemi's death. Saeed Mortazavi is condemned for refusing to justify Kazemi's detention to Parliament, for accusing Kazemi of spying and announcing the cause of her death as a stroke.
Oct. 14, 2003:
An Iranian judge ordered Mohammed Reza Aghdam Ahmadi, an Iranian intelligence agent accused of murdering Zahra Kazemi, to be released on $50,000 bail. Ahmadi's lawyer, Ghasem Shabani, told The Associated Press the judge accepted the argument that his client should only be held in custody if charged with deliberate murder.
- CBC STORY: Accused in Kazemi death to be freed on bail
Oct. 8, 2003:
The president of Iran criticises the judiciary handling the murder trial of intelligence officer Mohammed Reza Aghdam Ahmadi, charged in the death of Montreal photojournalist Zahra Kazemi. President Mohammad Khatami says the court handling the case is trying to blame his administration.
Oct. 7, 2003:
The trial of Mohammed Reza Aghdam Ahmadi opens in Tehran. The 42-year-old Iranian intelligence agent pleads not guilty in the death of Zahra Kazemi. Ahmadi is charged with "quasi intentional murder." Conviction carries a sentence of up to three years in prison and the payment of money to the family of the victim if requested. The case was adjourned at Ahmadi's request for more time to study his charges.
Sept. 22, 2003:
A judge charges an Iranian Intelligence Ministry agent with 'semi-premeditated murder' in the killing of Zahra Kazemi. The agent was one of two Intelligence Ministry officials charged September 1 in Kazemi's death. The second agent was acquitted.
- CBC STORY: Agent charged in killing of Kazemi
Sept. 10, 2003:
Foreign Affairs Minister Bill Graham says he wants the UN Human Rights commission to help find out what really happened when Canadian photojournalist Zahra Kazemi died in a jail in Iran.
- CBC STORY: Canada wants UN help in Kazemi case
Sept. 1, 2003:
Tehran's deputy prosecutor general drops charges against two intelligence officers and calls for "further investigations" into Zahra Kazemi's murder. Foreign affairs minister Bill Graham says the withdrawn indictments could be a positive development for the investigation after suggestions the officials were being made scapegoats.
Aug.25, 2003:
Iran announces charges of complicity in "quasi-intentional murder" against two interrogators from the Intelligence Ministry.
July 30, 2003:
Iran's vice-president says Kazemi was probably murdered by government agents. Mohammad Ali Abtahi admitted to reporters that Kazemi was likely killed by a deliberately delivered blow to the head following her arrest June 23.
- CBC STORY: Iranian official says Kazemi likely murdered
July 27, 2003:
Foreign Affairs spokesperson Isabelle Savard says the arrest of five people in the beating death of a Canadian photojournalist in Iran would satisfy Canada.
- CBC STORY: Canada looks for breakthrough in Kazemi case
July 26, 2003:
Tehran announces that five people have been arrested in connection with Kazemi's death.
July 25, 2003:
Diplomatic relations between Canada and Iran deteriorate as the ambassador to Iran returns to Ottawa and the foreign affairs minister rejects claims of Canadian injustice. Iran accuses a B.C. police officer of murdering one of its nationals.
- CBC STORY: Canada, Iran trade barbs as diplomatic row heats up
- CBC STORY: Tehran accuses Vancouver police of 'criminal' death
July 23, 2003:
Angry with the way Iran has dealt with the death of Zahra Kazemi, Canada recalls ambassador Philip MacKinnon from Iran. Foreign Affairs Minister Bill Graham calls the move "a strong indication in diplomatic terms of the complete dissatisfaction of one government to another government."
- CBC STORY: Canada recalls ambassador from Iran
July 22, 2003:
The Islamic Republic News Agency publishes a letter from Kazemi's mother, Ezzat Kazemi, saying she wishes to have her daughter buried in Iran.
Iran's handling of the investigation into Zahra Kazemi's death - and the decision to bury Kazemi in Iran - led to negative reaction in Canada, as suggested by this political cartoon. (Patrick Corrigan/Toronto Star)
July 21, 2003:
Foreign Affairs Minister Bill Graham joins in the call for swifter action in the investigation into the death of Zahra Kazemi. He says Kazemi's treatment "was a flagrant violation of her rights under international human rights law and a breach of obligations that Iran owes to the international community."
- CBC STORY: Iran intent on burying Kazemi: son
July 20, 2003:
Iran's official news agency reports that Kazemi died from a fractured skull caused by "a physical attack." The same day, Stephan Hachemi – Kazemi's son – tells reporters Canada is not pressing Iran hard enough to get her body home.
July 16, 2003:
Mohammad Ali Abtahi, Iran's vice-president, admits that Kazemi died as a result of being beaten. "If crimes have been committed," says Prime Minister Jean Chrétien, "we're pushing the Iranian government to punish those who committed the crime."
- CBC STORY: Iran admits beating killed Kazemi
July 14, 2003:
Deputy Prime Minister John Manley calls on Iran to return the body of Zahra Kazemi to Canada.
- CBC STORY: Kazemi buried, son says
July 13, 2003:
Iran's official news agency reports that Kazemi "suffered a stroke when she was subject to interrogation and died in hospital." The same day, under pressure from Canada, Iran's president, Mohammad Khatami, orders an investigation into her death.
July 12, 2003:
Ottawa orders Canada's ambassador to Iran – Philip MacKinnon – to investigate Kazemi's death.
July 11, 2003:
Kazemi dies in Tehran hospital while under guard.
July 7, 2003:
Officials with Canada's Foreign Affairs Department visit Kazemi in hospital, the first of three such visits before her death.
July 3 or 4, 2003:
Iranian officials inform Kazemi's family that she's been hospitalized.
June 27, 2003, 12:20 a.m.:
Kazemi is admitted to Baghiatollah hospital in Tehran.
June 23, 2003, 5:40 p.m.:
Kazemi is arrested while taking photographs outside Evin prison in Tehran during student-led protests. She is later taken into custody and interrogated by police, prosecutors and intelligence officials for 77 hours.
Spring 2003:
Kazemi leaves Canada for Iran.
