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Alert

Fourteen IFEX members sign on to letter expressing continued concern over impunity in case of photojournalist Zahra Kazemi

(PEN Canada/IFEX) - The following is a joint letter to Iranian President Mohammad Khatami. IFEX member organisations that have signed on to the letter are listed below:

His Excellency Hojjatoleslam Sayed Mohammad Khatami
The Presidency
Palestine Avenue
Azerbaijan Intersection
Tehran, Islamic Republic of Iran

Your Excellency,

We, the undersigned members of the International Freedom of Expression Exchange (IFEX), are writing to express our continued concern over the impunity that exists in the case of Iranian-Canadian photojournalist Zahra Kazemi, who died on 11 July 2003 from wounds inflicted while in custody in a Tehran prison.

On 23 June 2003, Kazemi was arrested while taking photographs outside Evin prison in Tehran during student-led protests, after which she was taken into custody and interrogated by police, prosecutors and intelligence officials for 77 hours. On 11 July, Kazemi died in a Tehran hospital while under guard. Iranian vice-president Mohammad Ali Abtahi admitted later that month that government agents probably murdered Kazemi, likely by a deliberately delivered blow to the head following her arrest.

Intelligence ministry agent Mohammad Reza Aghdam Ahmadi - who had initially been charged with "quasi-intentional murder" in October 2003 and whose trial has repeatedly and often inexplicably been delayed for months - is set to have his case heard in court again on 17 July 2004.

In light of our outrage over the torture and murder of Ms. Kazemi, we respectfully call on the Iranian judiciary to ensure that not only the perpetrator of the crime but also those who ordered it be convicted and properly punished, thus signalling to Iranian and international observers that Iran is committed to breaking a cycle of impunity in the killing of writers and journalists in the country. We also ask that authorities reverse their decision not to allow Shirin Ebadi to serve as legal representative for Kazemi's family. We further urge the Iranian government to accede to the wishes of Ms. Kazemi's son, Stéphan Hachemi, to have his mother's body be repatriated to Canada for burial. Finally, the undersigned IFEX members call on the Iranian government to take concrete steps to ensure that writers and journalists in the country be able to exercise their fundamental right to freedom of expression freely and without harassment of any kind.

Sincerely,

Canadian Journalists for Free Expression
Free Media Movement
Freedom of Expression Institute
Greek Helsinki Monitor
Independent Journalism Center - Moldova
International Press Institute
Journalists' Trade Union
Media, Entertainment and Arts Alliance
Media Institute of Southern Africa
Media Rights Agenda
PEN Canada
World Association of Community Radio Broadcasters
World Association of Newspapers
World Press Freedom Committee

cc: His Excellency Ayatollah Mahmoud Hashemi Shahrudi, Head of the Judiciary