Zahra Kazemi was a 55 year-old freelance photgrapher born in Iran who had become a Canadian citizen. In 2003 there was considerable unrest in Iran, and Kazemi obtained a permit to photograph demonstrations that were taking place against the government. These demonstrations were brutally suppressed and 4,000 students had been arrested and detained. On June 23rd, Kazemi was photographing the familes of detainees waiting outside Iran's infamous Evin Prison for word of their loved ones. Kazemi was suddenly arrested in spite of her permit and taken into the prison. No word of her reached the outside world until 19 days later when on July 11th it was announced by the Iranian government that she had died of a stroke while being interogated. The Canadian government immediately began asking questions about the death, and the Iranians changed their story to say she had fallen and fatally hit her head. More questions were asked and on July 16, 2003, Iran's vice-president Mohammed Ali Abtahi admitted that Kazemi had been beaten and had died of a fractured skull. On July 23rd, Kazemi's body was buried, against her son's wishes, in her hometown of Shiraz, Iran. Her son, Stephan Hachemi, had wanted her buried in Montreal where he lived. Her mother, Ezzat Kazemi, later said she was pressured by the government to allow the burial in Shiraz. On July 30th, Mohammed Ali Abtahi admitted that Kazemi was probably murdered by government agents. On August 23, 2003, two Iranian intelligence officers who had interogated Kazemi were charged with "complicity in semi-intentional murder." On July 26, 2004, Kazemi's mother told the court her daughter had been tortured and said she had been forced to agree to her burial in Iran to prevent the Canadians from performing an autopsy. Nevertheless, the Iranian judge cleared the defendants of any wrongdoing. In March, 2005, Dr. Shahram Azam, the doctor who examined Kazemi when she died, defected to the West from Iran. Dr. Azam said that, in addition to her fractured skull, Kazemi had a broken nose, whipping marks on her back, fingernails missing, two broken fingers, a crushed toe, severe abdominal bruising, and extensive injuries to her genitals. Kazemi had never been charged with any crime. About a dozen other journalists have been murdered in Iran. Reporters Without Borders in 2018 ranked Iran 164th out of 180 countries when it came to freedom of the press.