Masoud Pezeshkian
Masoud Pezeshkian
مسعود پزشکیان
29 Sep 1954
Mahabad
Male
Cardiac Surgery Super-Specialist
No
Alive
9 Aug 2024
- President of Medical Sciences University, Tabriz (East Azerbaijan Province) (1994 - 2000)
- Deputy Ministry of Health and Medical Education, National (1997 - 2001)
- Minister of Health and Medical Education, National (22 Aug 2001 - 24 Aug 2005)
- Human Rights Violation: Coordination in concealing the torture and concealing the crime (June and July 2003) read more
- Institution
- Ministry of Interior
- Location
- Tehran (Tehran Province)
- Rights Violated
- Right to freedom from torture, Right to life
- Description
- Masoud Pezeshkian, in his capacity as the Minister of Health and Medical Education, is responsible for hindering the clarification of the true cause and circumstances surrounding the death of Zahra (Ziba) Kazemi, an Iranian-Canadian photographer, and for concealing her torture and murder. Pezeshkian is accused of, along with the officials under his supervision, providing false reports regarding the actual cause of Zahra (Ziba) Kazemi’s death, thereby preventing the truth from being revealed and the real perpetrators from being identified. He has also played a role in obstructing independent and effective investigations. Later, in an interview with the Islamic Republic of Iran Broadcasting's (IRIB) news network, he admitted that Zahra (Ziba) Kazemi had been tortured in prison. Zahra Kazemi, an Iranian-Canadian photographer, was detained without reason by Tehran's prosecutor's office agents on June 23, 2003, while photographing a gathering of families of detainees outside Evin Prison. Four days later, she was declared brain dead at the hospital and, despite her brain death, was kept on a ventilator until July 10, when her death was officially announced. Testimony from Shahram Azam, an emergency room doctor at Baqiyatallah Hospital who examined Zahra Kazemi, indicated signs of torture, severe beatings, multiple fractures, and significant cranial injuries. The doctor also stated that Zahra Kazemi was sexually assaulted before her death.
- Sources
- Statements by the Minister of Health regarding the review of Zahra Kazemi's death case: Pezeshkian: Experts are set to re-examine the case.
https://shorturl.at/EH7Vw
The statements by Zahra Kazemi's mother about torture are baseless.https://shorturl.at/nE9es
Statements by Pezeshkian regarding the torture of Zahra Kazemi in prisonhttps://shorturl.at/hvI2D
Testimony of Dr. Shahram Azam: Zahra Kazemi was tortured in a systematic manner https://justice4iran.org/persian/documents/shahram-azam/
- Human Rights Violation: Coordination in concealing the torture and concealing the crime (June and July 2003) read more
- Member of Parliament, East Azerbaijan Province (27 May 2008 - Jul 2024)
- First Vice Speaker of Parliament, National (29 May 2016)
- President of the Islamic Republic of Iran, National (28 Jul 2024 - present)
These violations may only be part of the human rights violations that this person has been involved in. The investigation into this person's human rights record is ongoing.