TEHRAN TURNS THE HEATH ON OTTAWA
TEHRAN 24 July (IPS) With Ms. Zahra Kazemi, the Iranian-born Canadian photojournalist buried in here native town of Shiraz and the case of her death to be investigated by a man considered as the man culprit for her death, Iran has now turned the heath on Ottawa, accusing the Canadian police for the killing of an Iranian-Canadian youth.
Tehran, on Thursday, harshly condemned the "attack of three Iranian by the Canadian Police, killing one and wounding another in Vancouver".
"Iranian Foreign Affairs Ministry Spokesman Hamid Reza Asefi on Thursday condemned killing of Iranian national Keyvan Tabesh and injuring the other Amir Aqa’i by the Canadian police and the news blackout imposed on the criminal act", the official news agency IRNA reported.
Asefi raised the "ambiguity" of the "criminal act" committed by the Canadian police, stating that "The crime perpetrated by Canadian police which is responsible for the security of the society, has caused fear and horror among the
Iranian Community in Canada", IRNA added.Asefi, nor IRNA, did not explained the incident, but according to Canadian press, a policeman who was trying to arrest the men, accused of attacking two Canadian women near a discothèque on Monday, had fired on them after being attacked by knife.
According to witnesses interviewed by police, the early morning incident began when two women complained that Tabesh had rammed their vehicle with his car, hit the vehicle repeatedly with a machete and then drove off.
Officers spotted Tabesh's car while interviewing the women. A plainclothes officer followed him and and reported he fired several shots after Tabesh got out of his car and ran at him with the machete, police said.
"Everything we have been able to uncover about this kid and his past character and incidents that had concerned him confirm (the original report)", Port Moody Police Department spokesman Constable Brian Soles said, adding that the department is still investigating the July 14 incident.
Port Moody is a rapidly growing community of about 25,000 people about 10 km (6.5 miles) east of Vancouver. Tabesh lived in Burnaby, British Columbia, another Vancouver suburb. The family arrived in Canada two years ago.
The strict censorship imposed on the incident has added to the ambiguity of the issue, Asefi told IRNA, adding that the Islamic Republic of Iran will urge the Canadian government, through diplomatic channels, to deliver prompt, transparent and satisfying explanation on the horrifying crime.
The spokesman said that the Islamic Republic of Iran calls on the Canadian government to bring to justice those responsible for the crime.
Angered and shocked by the decision of Iranian authorities to bury Ms. Zahra Kazemi on Sunday, Ottawa recalled its ambassador to Tehran for consultation.
Mr. Asefi had belittled the move, saying such acts "were natural" between counrties.Observers said the tone and phrases used by the Iranian Foreign Affairs Ministry in regard on this incident "matches exactly" those used by Canada in the case of Zahra Kazemi.
Ms. Kazemi, 54, died on 10 July following brain haemorrhage due, according to official finding, to a "heavy object" that hit her head while under custody.
Many Iranian personalities, including Mr. Mohsen Armin, an outspoken lawmaker, journalists and jurists said she was probably hit while under interrogation by the Tehran Prosecutor, Judge Sa’id Mortazavi and called on the Judiciary to remove him.
Mr. Mortazavi had ordered officials at the Guidance Ministry, which is in charge of the press, to announce the death as being the result of a brain stroke and ordered Iranian media, including IRNA to carry the item.
This was confirmed by Mr. Mohammad Hoseyn Khoshvaqt, the General Director of the Islamic Guidance Ministry in charge of the foreign media, stating in a letter to the Majles Speaker that Judge Mortazavi had summoned him into his office and forced him to announce the death as being the result of brain stroke.
"Mortazavi then produced an official letter with the Guidance Ministry’s head marks in which he dictated the news item that was faxed to IRNA and other major news agencies et newspapers", he revealed, adding that Mortazavi had threatened to arrest him if he does not comply.
He also confirmed that Mr. Mortazavi had ordered the arrest of the photographer on 23 June, near the Evin prison, on charges of espionage.
But a ministerial investigation committee formed by President Mohammad
Khatami concluded that the death was caused by a cerebral haemorrhage caused by a heavy object that hit the head of Ms. Kazemi, or her head having touched the heavy object.At the same time, an in an obvious effort to absolve Mr. Mortazavi, who, according to the report, had personally participated at her interrogation, the ministers of Justice, Interior, Intelligence, Islamic Guidance and Health said the death occurred between 24 to 36 hours after her detention, on 23 June, meaning at a time that she was in the custody of the Police or the Intelligence Ministry.
The report also accused the photographer of having taken pictures at restricted areas and having a "violent, aggressive, provocative attitude" at all stages of her interrogation and called on the Judiciary to appoint an independent judge to investigate the case.
One day after, Ayatollah Mahmoud Hashemi Shahroudi, the head of the Judiciary and protector of Judge Mortazavi appointed him to look into the case.
Meanwhile, on the basis that the photographer was an Iranian citizen, Tehran rejected a demand by both Ms. Kazemi’s son, Stephen Hachemi and the Canadian government for having the body transferred to Canada for an autopsy and, acting on demand from her mother, had the body buried in Shiraz on Sunday.
Iranian political analysts also said that in the view of Judge Mortazavi, who is a protégé of Ayatollah Ali Khameneh'i, the leader of the Islamic Republic, Kazemi’s fate should serve as a warning to other Iranians working for foreign media in Tehran, reporting more and more on the worsening political situation, going as far as describing the regime as "crumbling".
Appointed recently as Tehran and Islamic Revolution tribunal prosecutor by Mr. Khameneh'i, Mr Mortazavi is praised by him and the ruling conservatives for having shut down over a hundred publications and placed behind bars a dozen of well-known journalists and editors as well as tens of dissidents, political activists and students opposed to the present theocracy, calling for democracy and secularism. ENDS IRAN CANADA RELATIONS 24703