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Associated Press
 TEHRAN, Iran (AP) - An appeals court has upheld the
acquittal of an Iranian secret agent in the killing a Canadian-Iranian journalist,
whose death in detention two years ago led to a diplomatic row between Canada and Iran, defense counsel said
Wednesday.
The court upheld the acquittal of Mohammad Reza Aghdam
Ahmadi, an interrogator with the Iranian
intelligence ministry and the only suspect in the case, and ruled the death
of Zahra Kazemi was not premeditated, said
defense lawyer Qasem Shabani.
Kazemi, a Canadian photojournalist of Iranian
origin, died in July 2003. She was arrested while taking photographs
outside a Tehran
prison during a student demonstration.
Canada
has campaigned to determine the cause of death. Initially the authorities
claimed Kazemi died of a stroke. But faced with
international pressure, a committee appointed by then-President Mohammad Khatami found Kazemi died of
a fractured skull and brain hemorrhage caused by a blow to the head.
Ahmadi was acquitted at his Iranian trial in July
2004, but the state appealed.
Lawyers representing Kazemi's relatives and other
supporters, including Shirin Ebadi,
the Iranian Nobel laureate, have repeatedly said they did not believe that Ahmadi was guilty. They maintain Kazemi
was beaten to death by a hard-line prison official.
The Canadian government has blamed Tehran Prosecutor Saeed
Mortazavi, who reported Kazemi
died of a stroke, for the photojournalist's death. Iranian reformists
accused Mortazavi of a cover-up; Mortazavi's office has denied the allegations.
``The appeal court has ordered the primary court to review the case to find
out who was really behind the death,'' Shabani
said.
Iran
also rejected a Canadian demand for an international forensic team to
examine the body, saying its judiciary is competent enough to carry out an
investigation.
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