DATE=9/22/2003

TYPE=CORRESPONDENT REPORT

TITLE=IRAN / INDICTMENT (S-O)

NUMBER=2-307781

BYLINE=GREG LaMOTTE

DATELINE=CAIRO

CONTENT=

VOICED AT:

/// INSIGHTED AS IRAN / ARREST ///

INTRO: An Iranian intelligence ministry official has been charged in the death of a Canadian photojournalist, who died in July as the result of head injuries officials say she sustained while in police custody. V-O-A'S Greg LaMotte has the story from our Middle East bureau in Cairo.

TEXT: The judge heading the inquiry into the death of Canadian photojournalist Zahra Kazemi charged an unnamed Intelligence ministry official with semi-premeditated murder.

Ms. Kazemi was arrested in June while taking photographs outside a prison in Tehran. On July 10th, she died in a Tehran hospital from head injures that Iranian officials said occurred while she was in custody.

The 54-year-old journalist had undergone 77 hours of interrogation before being rushed to the intensive care unit of an area hospital.

Initially, the prosecutor's office said Ms. Kazemi died of a stroke, but a commission appointed by Iranian President Mohammad Khatami to investigate the murder said she died as the result of blows to the head.

The judge also ruled Monday that a second intelligence agent would not face any charges related to the death of the photojournalist. And he ruled that no government organization planned the murder. (SIGNED)

NEB/GL/AWP/KL/TW