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From the Global website....
Kazemi was tortured and raped
John Ward
Canadian Press
March 31, 2005
OTTAWA -- A former Iranian army doctor spoke with clinical coolness Thursday as he methodically recounted a tally of bruises, broken bones and other injuries he says could only have been the result of the deliberate torture and rape of Canadian journalist Zahra Kazemi.
Foreign Affairs Minister Pierre Pettigrew said Dr. Shahram Azam's gruesome account just reinforces Canada's long-held belief that Kazemi's death was no accident, as Iran claims.
"We know that she was murdered and not the victim of an accident,'' the minister said in Toronto.
At an Ottawa news conference earlier, Azam, speaking through an interpreter, recounted in a matter-of-fact way how Kazemi was brought into his Tehran hospital unconscious and on a stretcher on June 27, 2003.
Azam, a former major in the Iranian security force, arrived in Canada on Monday. He fled Iran last summer with his wife and daughter under the guise of seeking medical treatment.
Officials from the Foreign Affairs and Immigration departments interviewed him in Sweden in November and fast-tracked his claim for refugee status.
Reading from notes he said he made when he examined Kazemi, Azam said he found horrendous injuries on the woman , ranging from a broken nose and finger bones to head and body bruises, a ruptured ear drum, lash marks, torn-off fingernails and toenails and feet beaten blue.
He said as a male doctor in a military hospital, he was banned from examining a woman's genitals, but the nurse who did so told him of "brutal damage.''
Prison officials sent her to the hospital saying she was suffering digestive problems and had vomited blood. Azam concluded that the blood had poured down her throat from her smashed nose.
"As a doctor I could see this was caused by torture,'' Azam said.
Kazemi, 54, an Iranian-born dual citizen, was arrested after taking pictures outside a prison in Tehran in June 2003.
Azam saw her four days later.
Iranian officials have said she died after she went on a hunger strike, fainted and struck her head as she fell.
The authorities have at various times acknowledged that Kazemi was murdered by state security officers, but the official explanation is unchanged.
"This was not an accident,'' Pettigrew scoffed.
Azam recited his findings in a calm, detached manner, gesturing to describe the location of some of the worst bruises.
He said a CAT scan that night showed bleeding in the brain and he learned the next day his patient was brain dead. The incident shook him.
"It was the first time I saw a patient brought in from a prison,'' he said. "It was so shocking for me.''
He said he had to come forward to tell his story freely because: "I am a human being.''
Marlys Edwardh, lawyer for the family, said Azam's recollections match the description given by the women's mother, who was allowed to briefly view the body in the hospital.
She said his account also makes it clear the Iranian government has lied about the case from the start.
Kazemi's son, Stephan Hachemi, who has kept his mother's case in the public eye for months, watched expressionless from the audience as Azam delivered his grisly findings.
Hachemi kept his emotions under tight rein as he said he's disappointed with the Canadian government's lack of progress in getting justice for his mother.
"I'm continuing what my mother has started by standing up to the Iranian regime,'' he said.
Edwardh said they have asked Prime Minister Paul Martin's office to go back to the Iranian government and press for a full criminal investigation of the case. Iran put a low-ranking official on trial last year, but he was acquitted after a hearing that was seen as a sham.
Pettigrew said the Iranian justice system failed completely.
"Iran is failing basic human rights and, to Canada, this situation must stop,'' he said.
Edwardh said the government should press for international mediation and compensation for Kazemi's family.
Pettigrew said officials will meet the family's lawyers to discuss all options.
"The family needs answers, Canadians wants answers and we will not stop pursuing this case until justice is rendered,'' he said.
Stockwell Day, the Conservative Foreign Affairs critic, said it's time to get tough with the ``brutish Iranian regime.''
He said the Canadian government should demand that Iran return Kazemi's body and conduct a new trial under international oversight.
If Iran refuses, Canada should recall its ambassador and impose sanctions, he said.
Hachemi said all Canadians have a stake in his mother's case.
"It's everybody's responsibility,'' he said. "It's not a personal matter, it's a national matter, it's an international matter.''
© The Canadian Press 2005
http://www.canada.com/national/story.html?id=18ceca54-9994-4796-be71-a7576f6a6755
Sounds pretty brutal......Thoughts?
Kazemi was tortured and raped
John Ward
Canadian Press
March 31, 2005
OTTAWA -- A former Iranian army doctor spoke with clinical coolness Thursday as he methodically recounted a tally of bruises, broken bones and other injuries he says could only have been the result of the deliberate torture and rape of Canadian journalist Zahra Kazemi.
Foreign Affairs Minister Pierre Pettigrew said Dr. Shahram Azam's gruesome account just reinforces Canada's long-held belief that Kazemi's death was no accident, as Iran claims.
"We know that she was murdered and not the victim of an accident,'' the minister said in Toronto.
At an Ottawa news conference earlier, Azam, speaking through an interpreter, recounted in a matter-of-fact way how Kazemi was brought into his Tehran hospital unconscious and on a stretcher on June 27, 2003.
Azam, a former major in the Iranian security force, arrived in Canada on Monday. He fled Iran last summer with his wife and daughter under the guise of seeking medical treatment.
Officials from the Foreign Affairs and Immigration departments interviewed him in Sweden in November and fast-tracked his claim for refugee status.
Reading from notes he said he made when he examined Kazemi, Azam said he found horrendous injuries on the woman , ranging from a broken nose and finger bones to head and body bruises, a ruptured ear drum, lash marks, torn-off fingernails and toenails and feet beaten blue.
He said as a male doctor in a military hospital, he was banned from examining a woman's genitals, but the nurse who did so told him of "brutal damage.''
Prison officials sent her to the hospital saying she was suffering digestive problems and had vomited blood. Azam concluded that the blood had poured down her throat from her smashed nose.
"As a doctor I could see this was caused by torture,'' Azam said.
Kazemi, 54, an Iranian-born dual citizen, was arrested after taking pictures outside a prison in Tehran in June 2003.
Azam saw her four days later.
Iranian officials have said she died after she went on a hunger strike, fainted and struck her head as she fell.
The authorities have at various times acknowledged that Kazemi was murdered by state security officers, but the official explanation is unchanged.
"This was not an accident,'' Pettigrew scoffed.
Azam recited his findings in a calm, detached manner, gesturing to describe the location of some of the worst bruises.
He said a CAT scan that night showed bleeding in the brain and he learned the next day his patient was brain dead. The incident shook him.
"It was the first time I saw a patient brought in from a prison,'' he said. "It was so shocking for me.''
He said he had to come forward to tell his story freely because: "I am a human being.''
Marlys Edwardh, lawyer for the family, said Azam's recollections match the description given by the women's mother, who was allowed to briefly view the body in the hospital.
She said his account also makes it clear the Iranian government has lied about the case from the start.
Kazemi's son, Stephan Hachemi, who has kept his mother's case in the public eye for months, watched expressionless from the audience as Azam delivered his grisly findings.
Hachemi kept his emotions under tight rein as he said he's disappointed with the Canadian government's lack of progress in getting justice for his mother.
"I'm continuing what my mother has started by standing up to the Iranian regime,'' he said.
Edwardh said they have asked Prime Minister Paul Martin's office to go back to the Iranian government and press for a full criminal investigation of the case. Iran put a low-ranking official on trial last year, but he was acquitted after a hearing that was seen as a sham.
Pettigrew said the Iranian justice system failed completely.
"Iran is failing basic human rights and, to Canada, this situation must stop,'' he said.
Edwardh said the government should press for international mediation and compensation for Kazemi's family.
Pettigrew said officials will meet the family's lawyers to discuss all options.
"The family needs answers, Canadians wants answers and we will not stop pursuing this case until justice is rendered,'' he said.
Stockwell Day, the Conservative Foreign Affairs critic, said it's time to get tough with the ``brutish Iranian regime.''
He said the Canadian government should demand that Iran return Kazemi's body and conduct a new trial under international oversight.
If Iran refuses, Canada should recall its ambassador and impose sanctions, he said.
Hachemi said all Canadians have a stake in his mother's case.
"It's everybody's responsibility,'' he said. "It's not a personal matter, it's a national matter, it's an international matter.''
© The Canadian Press 2005
http://www.canada.com/national/story.html?id=18ceca54-9994-4796-be71-a7576f6a6755
Sounds pretty brutal......Thoughts?
