Iranian authorities at first announced that the 54 years-old Zahra Kazemi had died of brain stroke, but an investigation committee formed by President Mohammad Khatami had concluded that the death was due to cerebral haemorrhage caused by a "blow to her head by a heavy object".

Ms. Kazemi had been arrested on 23 June by agents from the office of Tehran and Islamic Revolution’s tribunal Prosecutor Judge Sa’id Mortazavi while taking picture of families of prisoners demonstrating outside the notorious Evin prison, on charges of espionage.

Speaking to reporters after a cabinet session on Wednesday, Vice-president for Legal and Parliamentary affairs Hojjatoleslam Mohammad Ali Abtahi repeated again "the high possibility is that her murder was caused by a haemorrhage caused by a blow".

It was Mr. Abtahi who said for the first time that Ms. Kazemi’s death might not have been a brain stroke, as Mr. Mortazavi had coerced officials and the media to report.

Mr. Abtahi said though the investigation continues, but indications are that they lead to the direction of the death being caused by brain hemorrage.

Last week, the Judiciary announced the arrest of five people in connection with Ms. Kazemi’s death, without identifying any of them.

Mr. Abtahi said he did not know to which organ the men belonged, adding that it was up to the judiciary to identify and prosecute those responsible for Kazemi's death.

In her first interview with an Iranian newspaper on the death of her daughter, Ms. Kazemi's mother confirmed that she had agreed to the transfer of the body to Canada, but she changed her mind because of pressures and threats from unidentified agents.

"Every day four or five people came and talked to the owner of the house (where I was staying) and they created so much problems for them that they asked me to leave", she said.

"I had no other choice. I didn't have money, I was alone and I had no other place to go...They wanted the burial to take place as soon as possible. They wanted to get rid of the body. I was obliged to accept her burial in Iran", she added.

According to a "Reuters" dispatch from Tehran, Abtahi and Interior Minister Hojjatoleslam Abdolvahed Mousavi-Lari declined to comment on Ezzet Kazemi's remarks about the burial that Iranian authorities had claimed had taken place on the decision of the mother to bury her daughter in her birthplace in the southern Iranian city of Shiraz.

"I flew to Tehran from Shiraz immediately a women told me on the phone to come with some money for bail. I went to Evin first and after waiting several hours, they took me to the hospital to meet my daughter. But she was lying in a coma and she had heavy, black bruises on one of her thighs, elbow and on one eye. When I asked what the bruises were, they told me it was due to injections. Injections on elbow? On the eye? You must be joking, I told them", Mrs. Ezzat went on.
"I don't know what the reason for her death was... All I want is for the killer of my daughter to suffer the same fate as my child. I want this person to be executed," she said.
But Mr. Mousavi-Lari said three post-mortem examinations had stated that there were no injuries to Kazemi's body other than the skull fracture.

Mrs. Jamiled Kadivar, a reformist Member of the Majles and the raporteur of the House’s Article 90 that deals with human rights and Judicial affairs told journalists on Wednesday that the blow to Ms. Kazemi’s head had been "very technical, not everyone’s work".

The death of Ms. Kazemi not only strained diplomatic relations between Ottawa and Tehran, but also outraged most of Western nations, including the European Community and cast a spotlight on Iran's shadowy security services, the treatment of the media and political prisoners.

Ms. Kazemi’s only sun, Stephen Hachemi, 26, met on Tuesday with Mr. Graham and Mr. Philip MacKinnon, the Canadian ambassador to Iran -- who was recalled from Tehran after Kazemi's death -- and discussed the federal government's role in persuading Iranian officials to return his mother's body to Canada, and bring her killers to justice.

But he said he has been disappointed so far with Ottawa's efforts to force Iranian officials to return Kazemi's body. "I won't stop until I see her here in Canada", Hachemi said as he left the meeting.

But Hachemi's lawyer, Marlys Edwardh, said she was happy with the Canadian government's efforts, although the slow diplomatic process frustrated her.

Hachemi and Edwardh have asked the Canadian government to consider imposing trade sanctions against Iran and to use the International Criminal Court to ensure Kazemi's body is brought back to Canada.

Graham said he must consult with his ministry's legal officials before deciding what actions the government will take.

"We'll be examining all possible avenues to make sure that we have an open and transparent process in Iran", he said.

But all Iranian analysts and observers doubted the real culprits would ever be identified, noting that Mr. Mortazavi is a protégé of Ayatollah Ali Khameneh'i, the leader of the Islamic Republic.