Iran orders new trial into death of Canadian

TEHRAN (Reuters) - Iran's supreme court has ordered a new trial over the 2003 death in custody of an Iranian-Canadian photojournalist, a judiciary official and a lawyer said on Tuesday.

Canada has long maintained there were flaws in the original trial over Zahra Kazemi's case, which soured ties between Tehran and Ottawa.

Judiciary spokesman Alireza Jamshidi said the supreme court had identified "some formal problems" in the case and also in the qualification of the court which handled it.

"The judges of the supreme court have returned the case to a qualified court in order to remove the problems," Jamshidi said, the official IRNA news agency reported.

Iranian-born Kazemi died in a military hospital of a brain hemorrhage after receiving a blow to the head at Tehran's Evin prison.

In Ottawa, Junior Foreign Minister Helena Guergis said Canada would welcome a decision to hold a new trial.

"Iran has an obligation to the Kazemi family to ensure that the perpetrators of this terrible crime are brought to justice," she told Parliament.

But Kazemi's son expressed serious reservations about the announcement and linked it to a lawsuit he has launched against Tehran over the case.

"I have no doubts about the government of Iran -- they are criminals from A to Z and there is no hope whatsoever," Stephan Hachemi told the Canadian Broadcasting Corp., accusing Canada of not doing enough to help him.