RE: Obama's message to Iran

Near the end of 2003, London-based Channel 4 aired the controversial documentary "Forbidden Iran" presented by the international news magazine Frontline. The film includes a harrowing report from inside Iran, where, a Canadian reporter, Jane Kokan, risks her life to secretly film shocking evidence of a government sponsored reign of terror. In "Forbidden Iran" Kokan escapes the constant surveillance of the Iranian authorities to record exclusive interviews detailing the systematic torture and execution of students opposed to the Islamic Republic regime. The documentary was graphic enough to contain some horrific scenes of stoning, eye-poking and dismembering of human limbs. This is the story which a brave Zahra Kazemi, a Canadian journalist of Iranian descent, was working on when she was captured, tortured and murdered by the Islamic Republic regime.

http://www.state.gov/g/drl/rls/hrrpt/2005/61688.htm

In 2003 an Iranian-Canadian photographer, Zahra Kazemi, died in custody after being arrested for taking photographs at Evin prison in Tehran. After initially claiming that she died following a stroke, the government admitted that she died as a result of a blow to the head. In July 2004 a court acquitted an intelligence ministry official accused of her death. In December 2004 the Kazemi family protested the failure of the court to convict anyone and requested a criminal investigation, which led to a May 16 appeals court hearing. After the family protested the judge's decision to close the hearing to the public, the judge ended the session. When it reopened on July 25, the judge banned foreign observers, rejected the appeal, upheld the 2004 judgment that Kazemi's death had been accidental, and ruled that the court was not in a position to reopen the case. The court did not release the hearing's dossier.
On November 23, the judiciary released its verdict on the Kazemi case, confirming that the intelligence agent originally charged was not guilty and expressing that there were "shortcomings in the investigation." The judiciary stated that the case was being transferred to another court for further investigation. The judiciary spokesman said the case was not closed and further examination was needed, including reviewing potential suspects, but indicated no timeframe for the investigation. The Kazemi lawyers charged that someone from the judiciary, not the intelligence ministry, was responsible for her death. At year's end there had been no further action.

http://www.nysun.com/foreign/iran-death-judge-lands-un-seat-on-human-rights/34875/

Iran Death Judge Lands U.N. Seat On Human Rights By ELI LAKE, Staff Reporter of the Sun | June 22, 2006
WASHINGTON - Iran's delegation to the U.N. Human Rights Council faces being isolated by the envoys of free nations this week after it emerged that its leader is one of Iran's most notorious censors and prosecutors of dissidents who the Canadians hold responsible for acquitting those who raped and murdered one of their female citizens.,,,,

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"Most of the Iranians evaluate this as a show of power from Supreme leader Ayatollah Khamenei. Khamenei is saying, 'Okay, I can arrest anyone I want and the world cannot do anything," he said. Mr. Fakhravar yesterday said Iran had "made a fool of the rest of the world" by sending Mr. Mortazavi to Geneva. He added, "If the world wants to show to Iran that they are genuinely committed to human rights they ought to arrest him at least for the murder of Zahra Kazemi."