TEHRAN — 2003 · Suspicious Death

The Death in Custody of Zahra Kazemi

UnsolvedSources: ALast updated: 14 October 2026

Iranian-Canadian freelance photographer Zahra Kazemi was detained on 23 June 2003 while photographing relatives of prisoners outside Tehran's Evin Prison. Kazemi, 54, was seriously injured in custody and died in hospital on 10 July 2003. An official inquiry released in July 2003 acknowledged that she died of a skull fracture caused by a blow to the head. An intelligence agent was tried but acquitted in 2004. The family's lawyers, led by Nobel laureate Shirin Ebadi, said the court refused to hear witnesses. International press freedom groups stressed years later that those responsible remained unpunished; the case became a long-running source of tension between Iran and Canada.

Date: 2003
Place: Evin, Iran, Tehran, IR
Category: Suspicious Death
Case Status: Unsolved
Coordinates: 35.7967, 51.3876 ↗

Timeline of Events

23 June 2003Kazemi was detained outside Evin Prison.
10 July 2003She died in hospital.
July 2003An official report acknowledged the death was caused by a blow.

24 July 2004The intelligence agent on trial was acquitted.
2008Reporters Without Borders said a new inquiry lacked independence.

Sources

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