Zahra Kazemi

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Zahra Kazemi
Kazemi before her arrest (BBC)
Born	1948 Shiraz, Iran
Died	11 July 2003(2003-07-11) (aged 55) Evin Prison, Tehran, Iran
Cause of death	State-sanctioned torture
Resting place	Shiraz, Iran
Nationality	Iranian-Canadian
Education	University of Paris
Occupation	Photojournalist
Children	1
Awards	Tara Singh Hayer Memorial Award (2003)

Zahra "Ziba" Kazemi-Ahmadabadi (Persian: زهرا کاظمی احمدآبادی; 1948 – 11 July 2003) was an Iranian-Canadian freelance photojournalist. She gained notoriety for her arrest in Iran and the circumstances in which she was held by Iranian authorities, in whose custody she was killed. Kazemi's autopsy report revealed that she had been raped and tortured by Iranian officials while she was at Evin Prison, located within the capital city of Tehran.

Although Iranian authorities insist that her death was accidental and that she died of a stroke while being interrogated, Shahram Azam, a former military staff physician who used his purported knowledge of Kazemi's case for seeking asylum in Canada in 2004, has stated that he examined Kazemi's body and observed that she showed obvious signs of torture, including a skull fracture, nasal fracture, signs of rape, and severe abdominal bruising.^[1]

Her death was the first time that an Iranian death in government custody attracted major international attention.^[2] Because of her dual citizenship and the circumstances of her death, she has since become an international cause célèbre. In November 2003, Canadian Journalists for Free Expression honoured Kazemi with the Tara Singh Hayer Memorial Award in recognition of her courage in defending the right to freedom of expression.^[3]