Cover-Up in Iran: The Zahra Kazemi Story
Once again, the government of Iran has managed to bungle their way into another sticky situation. This one involves the death of Ms. Zahra Kazemi, a 54-year-old Iranian born photographer of Canadian citizenship. Ms. Kazemi was caught taking pictures of Evin prison just north of Tehran where protesters from the anti-government protests last June were being held. It is said that she was detained by Iranian authorities for taking pictures of the prison, which they considered a serious offense. It is alleged that Ms. Kazemi was beaten, then got sick and eventually died. There are, of course, two sides to the story.
The Iranian's at first claimed that Ms. Kazemi was sick at the outset and died of a stroke. They mentioned nothing about beating her or attacking her during or after her arrest. However, as the story began to unfold even more, it was discovered that she was indeed beaten, severely, by her captors. The Iranian government has disputed this but Ms. Kazemi's relatives have stated that her captors beat her.
After Ms. Kazemi died, a fight broke out over where her body was to be buried. On one side you had Iranian officials who said that because she was born in Iran, her body should be laid to rest Iran. They even got permission from Ms. Kazemi's mother to have her body buried there. They also admitted that by Islamic tradition, it is necessary to bury the body as soon possible if there is no need for an investigation. They said that they would bury the body right away because they felt that she had died of natural causes.
On the other side you have Ms. Kazemi's son who wants his mother's body returned to Canada for burial. He feels that the Iranian government improperly influenced his grandmother, feeling that they forced her to say that she wanted her daughter buried in Iran. This has become quite a controversy because Kazemi's son feels that the Iranian government has forced his grandmother to say she wishes to keep the body in there because they inflicted the injuries that lead to her death. He has pressed the Canadian government to take action in helping him recover his mother's body and it appears as if he has their cooperation.
The latest news regarding Ms. Kazemi is that that she did receive blunt force trauma to her head and that was what caused her death. Who did it and why has yet to be determined. All of this was brought about after President Khatami has created a commission to investigate Ms. Kazemi's death. I believe they Iran saw that its calm and cool relations with Canada to be in jeopardy so Khatami forced a quick finding of fact in regards to Ms. Kazemi's death. Discovering who caused her injuries is still ongoing.
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