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International Wrap: Canadian Photo-Journalist Beaten to Death in Iran
Aired July 16, 2003 - 06:35 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
CAROL COSTELLO, CNN ANCHOR: Now a disturbing story out of Iran. A Canadian journalist is beaten to death there. The question this morning is: Why? We are struggling to get information out of that closed country.
Our senior international editor, David Clinch, is here to tell us how we're doing that.
DAVID CLINCH, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL EDITOR: Yes, it's a very difficult story for us to cover, as are all stories in Iran. We have some people there who can report for us, but effectively the Iranians do not like sending our own reporters in, don't issue us journalist visas very often. And when they do, they don't allow us to report on the stories we want to all of the time.
COSTELLO: So, now I'm curious. Did the Canadian journalist have a visa to be there?
CLINCH: Well, this is a very interesting aspect of the story. First of all, we have now confirmed today that the Iranian vice president is saying that the investigation into the death of this Canadian -- Iranian-born, but Canadian journalist -- has concluded at this point that she died as the result of a beating while in police custody. That's the first fact that we've confirmed today.
Now, the other interesting aspects are that she's Canadian, but she went in on her Iranian birth as an Iranian citizen, if you want to put it that way. And the Iranian officials dealt with her from their point of view as an Iranian. So, they issued her an Iranian visa, and she was able to enter the country. She then operated as a journalist and went to cover the story she wanted to cover, which was the aftermath of the demonstrations that sometimes...
COSTELLO: The student protests.
CLINCH: Student protests, was taking photographs, according to the Iranians where she shouldn't have been, according to the Iranians put into custody, died, and now we're told as a result of a beating.
Well, the interesting thing that it brings up and the reason that I think it's so important and I won't go home today until I get people interested in this story, is because in treating her like an Iranian and her dying of a beating, they effectively, one arm of the government, the secret police, the people who deal with Iranians like this all the time, have revealed themselves to the world. People die in Iranian custody all the time, are beaten to death all the time. Journalists -- international journalists don't get beaten to death in Iran all the time. But in treating her as an Iranian and her dying because she did something they didn't want her to do, as I said, "they," that arm of the government has revealed itself to the world.
And, again, this internal struggle between Khatami, his part of the government, and the conservatives, secret police, again...
COSTELLO: Which is the bizarre thing in Iran, because there are two different governments seemingly at work in Iran.
CLINCH: Absolutely. And this brings that to the fore again. Khatami, his government determined to investigate this, already revealing this information, the vice president and Khatami working together on this investigation revealing that she was beaten to death. It brings up the struggle between that arm of the government, which has huge popular support, and this secretive, in-the-background arm of the government -- the military, the secret police.
But, again, inadvertently, by treating her as an Iranian, as they would treat any Iranian who did something they didn't want them to do, they've revealed that dirty side of Iranian society. And Iranians, the majority of them, are disgusted by this and will be disgusted by it.
So, it again brings up this strange schism in the country itself, which, you know, has never quite passed the point of creating a split, a civil war or anything like that. It's never quite reached that.
But, again, another example of the split that exists in that key country.
COSTELLO: And if all of you want to read an interesting book that's fun to read to try to understand the situation in Iran better, "Reading Lolita in Tehran."
CLINCH: Yes, absolutely.
COSTELLO: It's a great book.
CLINCH: I read that recently. And, again, fascinating, the whole -- the Iranian people don't know what to do with themselves. They want to make progress, but they're terrified to do it through violence. So...
COSTELLO: But they may die.
CLINCH: Absolutely.
COSTELLO: David Clinch, many thanks. We appreciate it.
CLINCH: No problem.
TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com.
Death in Iran>
Aired July 16, 2003 - 06:35 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
CAROL COSTELLO, CNN ANCHOR: Now a disturbing story out of Iran. A Canadian journalist is beaten to death there. The question this morning is: Why? We are struggling to get information out of that closed country.
Our senior international editor, David Clinch, is here to tell us how we're doing that.
DAVID CLINCH, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL EDITOR: Yes, it's a very difficult story for us to cover, as are all stories in Iran. We have some people there who can report for us, but effectively the Iranians do not like sending our own reporters in, don't issue us journalist visas very often. And when they do, they don't allow us to report on the stories we want to all of the time.
COSTELLO: So, now I'm curious. Did the Canadian journalist have a visa to be there?
CLINCH: Well, this is a very interesting aspect of the story. First of all, we have now confirmed today that the Iranian vice president is saying that the investigation into the death of this Canadian -- Iranian-born, but Canadian journalist -- has concluded at this point that she died as the result of a beating while in police custody. That's the first fact that we've confirmed today.
Now, the other interesting aspects are that she's Canadian, but she went in on her Iranian birth as an Iranian citizen, if you want to put it that way. And the Iranian officials dealt with her from their point of view as an Iranian. So, they issued her an Iranian visa, and she was able to enter the country. She then operated as a journalist and went to cover the story she wanted to cover, which was the aftermath of the demonstrations that sometimes...
COSTELLO: The student protests.
CLINCH: Student protests, was taking photographs, according to the Iranians where she shouldn't have been, according to the Iranians put into custody, died, and now we're told as a result of a beating.
Well, the interesting thing that it brings up and the reason that I think it's so important and I won't go home today until I get people interested in this story, is because in treating her like an Iranian and her dying of a beating, they effectively, one arm of the government, the secret police, the people who deal with Iranians like this all the time, have revealed themselves to the world. People die in Iranian custody all the time, are beaten to death all the time. Journalists -- international journalists don't get beaten to death in Iran all the time. But in treating her as an Iranian and her dying because she did something they didn't want her to do, as I said, "they," that arm of the government has revealed itself to the world.
And, again, this internal struggle between Khatami, his part of the government, and the conservatives, secret police, again...
COSTELLO: Which is the bizarre thing in Iran, because there are two different governments seemingly at work in Iran.
CLINCH: Absolutely. And this brings that to the fore again. Khatami, his government determined to investigate this, already revealing this information, the vice president and Khatami working together on this investigation revealing that she was beaten to death. It brings up the struggle between that arm of the government, which has huge popular support, and this secretive, in-the-background arm of the government -- the military, the secret police.
But, again, inadvertently, by treating her as an Iranian, as they would treat any Iranian who did something they didn't want them to do, they've revealed that dirty side of Iranian society. And Iranians, the majority of them, are disgusted by this and will be disgusted by it.
So, it again brings up this strange schism in the country itself, which, you know, has never quite passed the point of creating a split, a civil war or anything like that. It's never quite reached that.
But, again, another example of the split that exists in that key country.
COSTELLO: And if all of you want to read an interesting book that's fun to read to try to understand the situation in Iran better, "Reading Lolita in Tehran."
CLINCH: Yes, absolutely.
COSTELLO: It's a great book.
CLINCH: I read that recently. And, again, fascinating, the whole -- the Iranian people don't know what to do with themselves. They want to make progress, but they're terrified to do it through violence. So...
COSTELLO: But they may die.
CLINCH: Absolutely.
COSTELLO: David Clinch, many thanks. We appreciate it.
CLINCH: No problem.
TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com.
Death in Iran>
