Iran rebuffs Canadian demands over journalist who died in custody

AFP - World News (via Yahoo):

Iranian Foreign Minister Kamal Kharazi has rebuffed calls from Ottawa for an independent inquiry into the death in custody here of an Iranian-Canadian journalist, Tehran newspapers said.

Kharazi insisted the case was a matter for Iran's hardline judiciary and not his government, and dismissed testimony advanced by Canada to support its charge that journalist Zahra Kazemi had been tortured, saying the doctor cited was an imposter. READ MORE

"It's the judiciary that is in charge of the Kazemi case and any demand connected with it should be addressed to them," the papers quoted Kharazi as telling his Canadian counterpart Pierre Pettigrew in a telephone conversation Tuesday.

"Before we take account of his testimony, the doctor needs to prove he worked in the hospital" where Kazemi was taken after sustaining a fatal blow while in custody in June 2003, Kharazi said.

"The (hospital) management say this person never worked there."

Pettigrew told Canadian MPs he had telephoned Kharazi to demand that Kazemi's remains be handed over and an independent post-mortem be carried out.

"Iran is in the wrong, it was murder, and that is why we brought the doctor here, to clearly show the facts," he said, referring to former Iranian military doctor Shahram Azam, who has been granted refugee status in Canada. ...