TEHRAN, 19 July 2004 — Nobel laureate and human rights lawyer Shirin Ebadi warned Iran’s government yesterday that she could take the case of an Iranian-Canadian photographer killed in custody here to an international court if justice was not served in the Islamic republic.
“We have many legal means to defend the rights of our clients, and conforming with the law, if the client demands it, we will bring the case before an international tribunal,” she told reporters.
Her comments came after Iran’s judiciary, accused of a cover-up in the death of Zahra Kazemi, barred diplomats and journalists from the trial of her alleged killer and then abruptly halted the case.
As the second round of hearings into the controversial case opened, Canadian Ambassador Philip MacKinnon, Dutch Ambassador Hein de Vries as well as senior diplomats from the French and British embassies were bluntly told to stay out.
The foreign press were also barred from the court, and Ebadi and her legal team — who are representing Kazemi’s enraged family — stormed out after the judge rejected their call for more witnesses and ended the hearings.
“This is a very serious development, there will be diplomatic consequences,” one of the diplomats said after waiting in his car outside the court for more than an hour and failing to get a permit to enter.
“This goes against all the assurances we have had that the trial will be open and transparent,” another diplomat added. “The cause of human rights in Iran has taken a very serious blow today.”
Canada reacted swiftly yesterday, announcing the “immediate recall” of Ambassador MacKinnon. Ottawa had announced during the week that it would recall MacKinnon, then reversed its decision, before deciding to pull the diplomat over the barring of diplomats and the controversial end to the trial.
Kazemi, a 54-year-old freelance photographer and a dual national, was arrested in June last for taking pictures outside Tehran’s Evin prison. She died from a brain hemorrhage on July 10, 2003.
The judiciary initially claimed she had died of a stroke, but a government report later revealed she had been struck by a blunt object while being interrogated.
Between her arrest and her admission to hospital, she spent several days being shuttled between the custody of judicial prosecutors, the police and the Intelligence Ministry.
The judiciary then charged 42-year-old intelligence agent Mohammad Reza Aghdam Ahmadi with “semi-intentional murder”, a charge that carries up to three years in jail. The agent says he is a scapegoat. The controversial trial had resumed on Saturday after a nine-month gap.
Iran’s handling of the case is seen as key test of its resolve to tackle human rights abuses. It has also severely damaged ties with Canada, which prior to the affair had been trying to increase engagements with Tehran in contrast to the tough position of the United States.
Ambassador MacKinnon was already called home over the affair last year after Kazemi’s body was hastily buried in southern Iran in a ceremony her mother said had been organized under duress.
Ebadi’s legal team has accused the judiciary of trying an innocent man in order to protect one of their senior officials, Mohammad Bakhshi. “The judge should not have ended the case. This trial is unfair,” Ebadi told reporters after walking out. “They have ignored the real culprit and are accusing an innocent man.”
Ebadi, the first Muslim woman to win the coveted Nobel Peace Prize, said the charges should have been for “premeditated murder” and called for the case to be referred to a higher provincial tribunal.
The mother of the victim, Ezzat Kazemi, claimed in court Saturday that her daughter was tortured while in custody.
The Iranian Foreign Ministry was unapologetic about excluding the diplomats. “I don’t know why they didn’t let the foreign diplomats into the court. Maybe they did not have enough chairs,” Foreign Ministry spokesman Hamid Reza Asefi told reporters, insisting that “Kazemi was an Iranian citizen”. Iran refuses to recognize dual nationality.
