A Blog for Zahra Kazemi - 2003-08-14

A blog titled "zahra-k.com" has recently been launched by a journalist residing in Iran to follow news and analyses related to the death of the late Zahra Kazemi. The author of this blog, Akbar Hashemi, has been working to publish all news and opinions regarding Ms. Kazemi in a coherent and organized manner since the 7th of Mordad (July 29) of this year. Zahra Kazemi, a 54-year-old Iranian-Canadian journalist and photographer, died about a month ago due to a blow to her head in Iranian prisons. She had received her PhD in cinema from the Sorbonne University in Paris and had collaborated for years with reputable Canadian publications such as "Le Devoir." Akbar Hashemi describes the purpose of launching this blog as follows: "From the very first moments we posted the news of Zahra Kazemi's death, I decided to create a blog to inform about the death of this Iranian journalist. However, for various reasons and upon the advice of friends, I refrained from this decision. Today, as the rumor of Zahra Kazemi being a spy has been completely refuted by official sources, I want to defend the demands of Iranian journalists in the current difficult conditions by providing impartial information regarding the death of this Iranian journalist. I urge all my compatriots to participate in upholding the rights of journalists and keeping their memory alive by sending any news regarding Zahra Kazemi." He further adds: "This blog belongs to all journalists in Iran. To start, I will provide news that has been published from the first day in two relatively independent news agencies (ILNA and ISNA) regarding Zahra Kazemi. I would have liked to include other news from news sites as well, but I did not have access to their archives. I request friends who have access to these archives to send news or images for the blog zahra-k.com." The blog "zahra-k.com" can be accessed at: http://www.zahra-k.persianblog.com.