Tehran — A judge on Monday ordered an Iranian intelligence agent charged in the murder of an Iranian-Canadian photojournalist to be freed on bail.
Lawyer Ghasem Shabani said his client, Mohammad Reza Aghdam Ahmadi, would be released Tuesday after posting the equivalent of about $50,000 Cdn bail.
On the first day of his open trial last Tuesday, Mr. Ahmadi pleaded not guilty to charges in the death of photojournalist Zahra Kazemi, 54, who died July 10 after suffering fatal head injuries during 77 hours of interrogation after her June 23 detention.
Mr. Ahmadi is charged with "semi-premeditated murder," meaning he did not intend to kill Ms. Kazemi but that his actions led to her death.
An Iranian spokesman answers questions on Monday. He congratulated Nobel prize winner Shirin Ebadi on behalf of the government. She has agreed to take up Zahra Kazemi's case. (Hasan Sarbakhshian/AP)
Mr. Shabani said that Judge Rasoul Ghanimi accepted his argument that Mr. Ahmadi should be in custody only if charged with deliberate murder, and not the semi-premeditated murder count he faces.
The lawyer said he could not provide bail Monday, but would do so Tuesday.
Mr. Shabani also said the judge agreed to give him a month to prepare his defence case.
Last Tuesday, Tehran's deputy prosecutor-general, Jafar Reshadati, told he court that Mr. Ahmadi was the only interrogator who had spent long periods of time alone with Ms. Kazemi.
Mr. Ahmadi had also refused to answer some questions about Ms. Kazemi's treatment and gave contradictory statements, he said.
Mr. Reshadati said a prison doctor had confirmed on the afternoon of June 26 that Ms. Kazemi was in good health and responded to questions in writing — only hours before she was rushed to hospital with lethal injuries.
"Now, the accused should explain how a healthy person in his control who responded to questions in 18 pages by her own handwriting is then transferred to hospital and finally dies," Mr. Reshadati said.
Iran's Intelligence Ministry is backing its agent and has blamed officials in the hardline judiciary for Ms. Kazemi's death.
On Monday, Mr. Shabani insisted the indictment against Mr. Ahmadi was flawed and showed "serious and deep contradictions" with documents provided by the Intelligence Ministry proving his client was innocent.
Ms. Kazemi, 54, was detained while taking photos outside north Tehran's Evin prison during student-led protests. After her interrogation, she was taken to a hospital's intensive care unit.
The killing has damaged ties between Iran and Canada and ignited a round of finger-pointing between Iran's cleric-backed hardliners and the moderates in the government of President Mohammad Khatami, who control the Intelligence Ministry.
Last week, Mr. Khatami reiterated that members of the hardline judiciary should be questioned, including the judiciary official who initially said Ms. Kazemi died of a stroke.
"Why all those who were in contact with Ms. Kazemi are not questioned, including those who ordered a Culture Ministry official to say she died of stroke," Mr. Khatami said, in reference to Saeed Mortazavi, the hardline Tehran prosecutor-general.
Authorities initially denied that Ms. Kazemi, who held both Canadian and Iranian citizenship, had been killed. However, the head of the foreign press department at Iran's Culture Ministry said in July that Mr. Mortazavi kept him hostage in his office and forced him to announce that Ms. Kazemi had died of a stroke.
A presidential-appointed committee later ruled that Ms. Kazemi died of a fractured skull and brain hemorrhage due to a blow to the head.
A statement released last week by the Intelligence Ministry said Ms. Kazemi complained in writing on June 24 that she had been beaten on the day of her arrest by a prison official, part of the hardline judiciary.
Canada threatened sanctions and withdrew its ambassador after the photojournalist's body was buried in her birthplace, the southern Iranian city of Shiraz, against the wishes of Canadian authorities and her son, who lives in Montreal.
Canadian Ambassador Philip Mackinnon returned to Iran earlier this month and has been attending the trial.
