Canada’s High Court could try Iran for Zahra Kazemi murder

Shahrzadnews:The Supreme Court of Justice in Canada is soon to rule on a request from Stefan Hashemi that they try the Iranian government for the murder of his mother, Zahra Kazemi.

The Canadian photojournalist died in Iran in 2003. While taking photographs of protestors outside the notorious Evin political prison, she was arrested and incarcerated there herself. Before she died she was raped and tortured. She was buried in Iran despite requests from her family for her body to be returned to Canada. The court turned down Hashemi on the first occasion, but according to the Canadian Daily Star they are now reconsidering the matter.

The Iranian government always argued that according to international conventions it is immune from prosecution by courts in other countries, and until now the Canadian Supreme Court has accepted this. However Stefan Hashemi’s lawyers say that such immunity does not apply when the human rights of another country’s citizen have been contravened, which is the case in this instance.

Among those named by Stefan Hashemi as being responsible for his mother’s death are the Iranian Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, former public prosecutor for Tehran Saeed Mortazvi, (known as ‘the Butcher of Freedoms’ by Iranian dissidents) and Mohammad Bakhshi, warden at Evin at the time.

The doctor who examined Zahra Kazemi in Evin’s clinic later defected to Canada, and has since given evidence on the injuries that led to the death of the 54-year-old woman.