Ms. Zahra Kazemi, an Iranian-Canadian journalist was beaten to death during an interrogation in Tehran after being unlawfully arrested by agents of the Islamic regime. According to the French newspaper Liberation, Tehran Prosecutor Saeed Mortazavi, beat Ms. Kazemi on the head personally with his shoe while questioning her. After being brought to a Revolutionary Guard interrogation center, Ms. Kazemi fell into a coma and was not taken to hospital until three days later, according to the newspaper. Some Persian language news sources have questioned the reliability of the Liberation report.

A member of the Green Party of Iran has witnessed similar beatings during interrogations in the 7th division of Evin prison. According to our member, interrogators would sit the prisoner on a chair and ask him to write his confession. Meanwhile, the interrogator would place a chair behind the prisoner and stand on it. If the prisoner did not write anything after a certain amount of time, the interrogator would suddenly, using his heel, kick the prisoner’s head. In most cases, prisoners would black out after such a forceful blow to the head. Our Green Party of Iran member is willing to testify in international court regarding this pattern of beating in the Islamic Regime’s prisons.

The Green Party of Iran
July 18, 2003