TEHRAN, April 2 (Xinhuanet) -- Iran has rejected a recent claim made by an Iranian asylum seeker that the late Iranian-Canadian photographer Zahra Kazemi was tortured to death during her imprisonment, the official IRNA news agency reported on Saturday.

    "Such unfounded claims are the product of adverse publicity by the Canadian press," Foreign Ministry spokesman Hamid-Reza Asefi was quoted as saying.

    Zahra Kazemi used to work as a freelance photographer for a Canadian media. She was arrested in July 2003 on the accusation of illegally taking pictures at a prison in Tehran.

    Kazemi died of brain hemorrhage several days later while under detention. But Kazemi's mother and some other people believed that she had been tortured to death and then took legal actions.

    In July 2004, the defendant of Kazemi's case was acquitted due to insufficient proof after Tehran prohibited the Western diplomats and correspondents from entering the court, which was sharply criticized by the West.

    Recently, an Iranian asylum seeker in Ottawa claimed that Kazemi was indeed tortured to death.

    Asefi, dismissing the claim, stressed that officials of the hospital, where the man introduced himself a related physician, had denied he was on their medical team.

    "The man's bogus claims were made for personal gain. There is a history of such people using the same tactic, but all their malicious intentions were soon brought to light," Asefi added.   Enditem