Iran's Vice-President Mr Mohammad Ali Abtahi said today Canadian photojournalist Ms Zahra Kazemi, who died in custody in Iran, was probably murdered.
Ms Abtahi had hinted as much two weeks ago, but since then an initial government inquiry left open whether a blow to Ms Kazemi's skull had been deliberate or accidental.
The Montreal-based journalist, 54, who was of Iranian descent, died on July 10th, more than two weeks after her arrest for taking pictures outside a Tehran prison.
Her death has strained diplomatic relations between Ottawa and Tehran and cast a spotlight on Iran's shadowy security services and treatment of the media. The initial Iranian inquiry into the three days Ms Kazemi spent under interrogation and arrest did not establish who may have caused the blow to Mr Kazemi's skull. Further investigations are under way and five security agents have been detained.
Ms Kazemi's mother was quoted today as saying she had agreed to bury her daughter in Iran against her will.
"I had no other choice. I didn't have money, I was alone and I had no other place to go...They wanted the burial to take place as soon as possible. They wanted to get rid of it (the body)," she added. Iran had said the decision to bury Ms Kazemi in her birthplace in the southern Iranian city of Shiraz accorded with her mother's wishes.
The decision outraged Canada which immediately recalled its ambassador to Tehran and said it would review bilateral ties with the Islamic Republic.