Iran's Prosecutor General Responds to Younesi's Statements: Determining Espionage is the Judiciary's Responsibility

Mohammad Jafar Montazeri, Iran's Prosecutor General, reacted to statements made by Ali Younesi, former Minister of Intelligence, regarding the murder case of Zahra Kazemi, an Iranian-Canadian journalist. He stated that the determination of espionage is not the responsibility of the Ministry of Intelligence but rather the Judiciary. Years after Kazemi's murder, which occurred while she was detained on espionage charges, Younesi, in an interview with Iran newspaper, blamed Saeed Mortazavi, the then Tehran Prosecutor, as the main culprit in the case, asserting that Mortazavi insisted Kazemi was a spy against the Ministry of Intelligence's assessment that she was not. Three days after these statements, which revived media discussions about Kazemi's murder, Montazeri responded indirectly to Younesi. On Wednesday, March 9, he stated, 'It is said that the determination of a spy is the responsibility of the Ministry of Intelligence, but this is not entirely accurate. The Ministry has defined duties in this regard. Determining the crime is our responsibility.' He added, 'Who said the determination of a spy is the Ministry of Intelligence's responsibility? Pursuit, prosecution, and punishment fall under the Ministry of Intelligence's jurisdiction. According to Article 29 of the Code of Criminal Procedure, they are general agents, and the determination of espionage is the responsibility of the Judiciary and other agents of the Judiciary. If someone is tried as a spy, they should not claim this is outside the Judiciary's authority.' Zahra Kazemi was arrested in 2003 while photographing a gathering of prisoners' families outside Evin Prison and died in custody after a period of detention. She was a photographer for the 'Camera Press' agency and had a permit from the Ministry of Culture and Islamic Guidance for her project, but the then Judiciary officials accused her of espionage. Younesi, who was the Minister of Intelligence at the time, stated that two counter-espionage experts from the Ministry had concluded after interrogating Kazemi in a hotel that she was 'not a spy technically and scientifically,' yet Mortazavi insisted on labeling her a spy and transferred the case from the Ministry of Intelligence to the police's intelligence unit. Various conflicting explanations have been given regarding the cause of Kazemi's death in custody. The then Prosecutor's officials claimed she fainted and hit her head, while Younesi explicitly attributed her death to beatings. He stated, 'It seems that during the inspection process, handing over items, and transferring to the detention center, and not during interrogation, she was beaten due to her resistance to handing over her belongings, and her head hit the street curb, leading to her brain hemorrhage.' Meanwhile, Justice for Iran published a testimony from Dr. Shahram Azam, a physician at Baqiyatallah Hospital, stating that Kazemi had been tortured in prison for several days. On Tuesday, Mohammad Hossein Khuskhvat, who was the Director General of Foreign Press and Media at the Ministry of Culture in 2003, revealed untold details about this incident in the 'Sazandegi' newspaper, accusing Mortazavi of lying and fabricating the case. He claimed Mortazavi pressured him to state in an interview with IRNA that Kazemi had shown signs of illness under the Ministry of Intelligence interrogator and was taken to the hospital where she suffered a stroke. Kazemi's death severely strained relations between Canada and Iran. Mortazavi was never condemned in connection with this incident, even though he was identified as the primary accused in the sixth Islamic Consultative Assembly's investigative report.