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CNN Sunday Morning

Interview With Shirzad Bozorgmehr

Aired July 13, 2003 - 10:43   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.


FREDRICKA WHITFIELD, CNN ANCHOR: Canada wants to know more about the death of journalist Zahra Kazemi, an Iranian who lived in Canada. She was following the arrest of student protesters in Iran when she was arrested. Officials in Tehran say Kazemi suffered a stroke while in custody and then died.
For more now, journalist Shirzad Bozorgmehr on the phone from Tehran.

Well, Shirzad, what do you know about the circumstances of her arrest? I understand she was trying to fake photographs of a prison there. And then what happened?

SHIRZAD BOZORGMEHR, JOURNALIST: Well, she was apparently taking photographs of the Ivan (ph) Prison in Tehran where it's a restricted area, and no photography signs are all over the place.

So the prison authorities arrested her on June 23. On June 26, her family was informed that she had suffered a stroke during interrogation, and, last night, the news came out that she had died...

WHITFIELD: Now before...

BOZORGMEHR: ... while in coma.

WHITFIELD: But, before she actually died, apparently, I noticed that she had expressed that she wasn't feeling well, and then they took her, apparently, to a hospital where she then had a stroke. What are the circumstances of why she got sick or how sick she was or the fact that she actually had this stroke?

BOZORGMEHR: Well, that is totally unclear as of this moment. This is why the Iranian president, Mohammed Khatemi, has ordered four of his Cabinet ministers to investigate the death of this journalist and report to him directly what caused it and if anyone at all was responsible for her death. It is -- at this juncture, we don't know.

What the culture ministry officials have said is that she suffered a stroke while being interrogated, at the initial stage of interrogation, and then slipped into a coma, and then, a few days later, which is...

WHITFIELD: So...

BOZORGMEHR: ... Saturday, she passed away. This is the extent of our knowledge at the moment. WHITFIELD: So, Shirzad, the Iranian officials are cooperating in the investigation of the cause of her death. However, there is some criticism that they're not cooperating in the request of family members who are in Canada who want her body returned to Canada. Why is that?

BOZORGMEHR: Well, we cannot confirm whether the Iranian officials are cooperating with -- in this regard or not. They are not saying that they will not send the body back to Canada, but -- what they're saying is that there are procedures that have to be completed before that could be done.

We know that her son has requested that the body be flown to Canada, maybe for an autopsy, but whether or not Iranians want to perform their own autopsy over here in Tehran, we don't know that yet. We're waiting to hear about that.

WHITFIELD: So, Shirzad, we're looking at pictures right now of her son who is in Canada, whom, apparently, has helped provide the information, painting the picture of the fact that the Iranian officials are not willing to release the body because she is of Iranian descent, that the government is claiming that her body is of their property, but the son is saying she's an Iranian Canadian and that she -- her home is Canada, and, therefore, her body is deserving of being returned to her new home country.

BOZORGMEHR: I cannot confirm that, but, reading between the lines of what the culture ministry said, which was that this lady that had dual nationalities -- first and foremost, she was Iranian, then Canadian. This could be an indication that they may want to hold the body here, but they haven't said so openly and clearly yet, so anything that we say is just conjecture.

WHITFIELD: Does she have any family members in Iran who have commented on this at all, or are all of them in Canada?

BOZORGMEHR: No, she does have family members in Iran, and they have supposedly visited her while she was in a coma at the hospital, and -- but the only person who has openly said that he wants the body flown back to Canada is her son who is in Canada at the moment. The rest of the family here -- I have not seen any statements from them so far.

WHITFIELD: OK. Freelance Shirzad Bozorgmehr.

Thank you very much for updating us on this very puzzling and mysterious story.

TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com







Aired July 13, 2003 - 10:43   ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
FREDRICKA WHITFIELD, CNN ANCHOR: Canada wants to know more about the death of journalist Zahra Kazemi, an Iranian who lived in Canada. She was following the arrest of student protesters in Iran when she was arrested. Officials in Tehran say Kazemi suffered a stroke while in custody and then died.
For more now, journalist Shirzad Bozorgmehr on the phone from Tehran.

Well, Shirzad, what do you know about the circumstances of her arrest? I understand she was trying to fake photographs of a prison there. And then what happened?

SHIRZAD BOZORGMEHR, JOURNALIST: Well, she was apparently taking photographs of the Ivan (ph) Prison in Tehran where it's a restricted area, and no photography signs are all over the place.

So the prison authorities arrested her on June 23. On June 26, her family was informed that she had suffered a stroke during interrogation, and, last night, the news came out that she had died...

WHITFIELD: Now before...

BOZORGMEHR: ... while in coma.

WHITFIELD: But, before she actually died, apparently, I noticed that she had expressed that she wasn't feeling well, and then they took her, apparently, to a hospital where she then had a stroke. What are the circumstances of why she got sick or how sick she was or the fact that she actually had this stroke?

BOZORGMEHR: Well, that is totally unclear as of this moment. This is why the Iranian president, Mohammed Khatemi, has ordered four of his Cabinet ministers to investigate the death of this journalist and report to him directly what caused it and if anyone at all was responsible for her death. It is -- at this juncture, we don't know.

What the culture ministry officials have said is that she suffered a stroke while being interrogated, at the initial stage of interrogation, and then slipped into a coma, and then, a few days later, which is...

WHITFIELD: So...

BOZORGMEHR: ... Saturday, she passed away. This is the extent of our knowledge at the moment. WHITFIELD: So, Shirzad, the Iranian officials are cooperating in the investigation of the cause of her death. However, there is some criticism that they're not cooperating in the request of family members who are in Canada who want her body returned to Canada. Why is that?

BOZORGMEHR: Well, we cannot confirm whether the Iranian officials are cooperating with -- in this regard or not. They are not saying that they will not send the body back to Canada, but -- what they're saying is that there are procedures that have to be completed before that could be done.

We know that her son has requested that the body be flown to Canada, maybe for an autopsy, but whether or not Iranians want to perform their own autopsy over here in Tehran, we don't know that yet. We're waiting to hear about that.

WHITFIELD: So, Shirzad, we're looking at pictures right now of her son who is in Canada, whom, apparently, has helped provide the information, painting the picture of the fact that the Iranian officials are not willing to release the body because she is of Iranian descent, that the government is claiming that her body is of their property, but the son is saying she's an Iranian Canadian and that she -- her home is Canada, and, therefore, her body is deserving of being returned to her new home country.

BOZORGMEHR: I cannot confirm that, but, reading between the lines of what the culture ministry said, which was that this lady that had dual nationalities -- first and foremost, she was Iranian, then Canadian. This could be an indication that they may want to hold the body here, but they haven't said so openly and clearly yet, so anything that we say is just conjecture.

WHITFIELD: Does she have any family members in Iran who have commented on this at all, or are all of them in Canada?

BOZORGMEHR: No, she does have family members in Iran, and they have supposedly visited her while she was in a coma at the hospital, and -- but the only person who has openly said that he wants the body flown back to Canada is her son who is in Canada at the moment. The rest of the family here -- I have not seen any statements from them so far.

WHITFIELD: OK. Freelance Shirzad Bozorgmehr.

Thank you very much for updating us on this very puzzling and mysterious story.

TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com