There were some earlier reports on this, but now it is confirmed that Zahra Kazemi, a Montreal-based photojournalist is brain-dead following injuries sustained after she was arrested by Iranian authorities a few weeks ago. She was apparently detained after taking photos of a prison in northern Tehran where students were taken last month following their arrest during protests. While born in Iran she carried a Canadian passport and the Canadian authorities have taken up her case at the highest levels but you do have to wonder why comments like these are made:

''We do not want to conclude that she was beaten up,'' said Reynald Doiron, a Foreign Affairs spokesman. ''The official reply by the Iranians as well as a full, unrestricted medical examination of her situation will determine the cause. Is it a blood clot; is it high blood pressure, lack of taking medication? Or has she been roughed up a bit? We don't know.''

If you don’t know, you find out. To suggest that she may have been “been roughed up a bit” is an utterly tactless choice of words. Keep quiet and do something. Someone has been beaten into a coma in an Iranian prison and even in the remote case that she lost consciousness because of any other reasons, Iranian authorities continue to be culpable as they were the ones that captured her. My thoughts go out to Zahra, her family and all the others in Iran who have to suffer this brutal regime.

Update: here's the The Globe and Mail on the same topic.