Tehran, Oct 07: The trial of an Iranian intelligence agent accused of killing Canadian-Iranian photographer Zahra Kazemi following her arrest here opened in a Tehran court today, a news agency correspondent in the court said. As the session began, the accused was identified for the first time as Reza Ahmadi, a 42-year-old man with greying hair and wearing spectacles.

Canada's ambassador to Iran, Philip Mackinnon, was present in the courthouse. Recalled to Canada in protest over Kazemi's death, Mackinnon has returned to Iran to follow the trial amid pledges it will be held in public.

Some 40 foreign and local journalists were also present in the court, but photographers and camera crews were kept out. Presiding over the trial was Judge Rasoul Ghanimi. He was flanked by portraits of Iran's revolutionary leader Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeiny, his successor as supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei and the chief of the hardline judiciary, Ayatollah Hashemi Shahrudi.

A judicial probe later ruled out "any decision or voluntary or organised plan on behalf of any (state) organ", but concluded that the charge of "quasi-intentional murder" could be levelled against one agent.

Bureau Report