Iran 'cancels' envoy's visit

By Jim Muir
BBC Tehran correspondent

The first-ever visit to Iran by the UN special rapporteur on freedom of expression and opinion, Ambeyi Ligabo, has been postponed at the Iranian Government's request.

Kazemi's relatives claim she was beaten in custody

The reason given by officials was that there were difficulties in arranging Mr Ligabo's schedule.

The visit would have come at a moment when human rights are under strong pressure in Iran, with numerous recent arrests of liberal journalists and student leaders.

An Iranian foreign ministry official was quoted as saying that there were problems arranging the meetings the envoy had asked for.

But the special rapporteur was to have been here for 10 days - and it is not unusual for the schedules of visiting officials, even very high ones, to be fluid until the last moment.

Rights concerns

The visit would have taken place at a time when human-rights organisations both inside Iran and internationally are deeply concerned about a crackdown emanating largely from the hardline judiciary.

Since the street disturbances in Tehran and elsewhere in the middle of June, dozens of prominent liberal journalists and also student leaders have been arrested.

Iran's Supreme Leader is under pressure

Most recently, it was the turn of Issa Sarkhiz, a prominent reformist newspaperman.

If Mr Ligabo wanted to talk to student leaders, he would find it hard to do so without visiting them in jail since virtually all student activists of any stature have been arrested.

There is also great concern about the case of Zahra Kazemi, an Iranian Canadian photo-journalist who was arrested last month and died last week after being in a coma for two weeks.

President Mohammad Khatami has ordered an urgent inquiry into her death in custody.

Officials say a committee he set up has intervened to prevent her body being buried until the cause of death has been fully clarified.

Officially, the visit by the special rapporteur has been postponed, not cancelled, and a new date should be set later in the year.

But it is hard not to conclude that the postponement marks a setback for the efforts of reformists within the Iranian establishment to improve the country's image on human rights.