TEHRAN, July 16 (AFP) - The trial of an intelligence agent accused of last year's killing in custody of an Iranian-Canadian photographer resumes here Saturday, but the question of who really murdered Zahra Kazemi refuses to go away.
According to the Islamic republic's hardline judiciary the blame sits squarely with the intelligence ministry -- a rival power centre considered closer to the reformist government of President Mohammad Khatami.
The shadowy intelligence service, however, is crying foul -- as too are the Canadians, human rights groups and the president himself -- and the trial threatens to become a display of Iran's dirty laundry rather than close the affair once and for all.
"According to the information that I received, I still believe that the accused is not guilty. I hope that the tribunal, with determination and courage, will name the real guilty person," Khatami said on Wednesday.
Ahead of Saturday's trial, Kazemi's son, Stephan Hachemi, has predicted "this trial is the same farce that it has always been".
"We suspect that the senior Iranian officials implicated in this murder will remain unpunished and that a scapegoat will be convicted in order to put an end to a case that is embarrassing for the regime," complained international press watchdog group Reporters Without Borders.
Canada has also recalled its ambassador to Tehran in protest at being barred from observing the proceedings, and says it is considering sanctions against the hardening clerical regime given the sentiment among its diplomats here that the real guilty party has not been charged.
But if agent Mohammad Reza Aghdam Ahmadi, 42, is not the real killer, then who is?
The question rests on the fact that after Kazemi's arrest in June 2003 for taking photos outside Tehran's notorious Evin prison -- at the time packed with detained anti-regime protestors -- the 54-year-old freelancer was interrogated by a string of internal security services.
Between her arrest and her admission to hospital, she spent four days bouncing between the custody of judicial prosecutors, the police and the intelligence ministry -- rival power centres in a complex political machinery.
She died in hospital on July 10, 2003 from a brain haemorrhage caused by a blow to her head by a blunt object -- reportedly a shoe.
Kazemi's corpse was then hastily buried in southern Iran by her mother, who complained of being pressured into not sending the body back to Canada.
The agent whom the judiciary has charged with "semi-intentional murder" pleaded not guilty during the opening hearing last October. He faces up to three years in jail if convicted.
In October an investigative commission in the Iranian parliament -- at the time controlled by reformists -- accused the judiciary of grave irregularities and said the handling of the case smacked of a cover-up.
The report took aim at Tehran's hardline public prosecutor, Saeed Mortazavi, for allegedly attempting to cover up the killing, notably by pressuring witnesses.
The parliament probe also said key documents related to Kazemi's detention and who came into contact with her at Tehran's Evin prison had been "tarnished" by Mortazavi's office.
Mortazavi has denied impropriety, describing the report as "full of sheer lies and polluted with accusations".
He is seen as unlikely to be take any flak in court.
A pillar of the judiciary, Mortazavi was in April handed "distinguished manager of the year" award due to his "efforts for the expansion and fairness of the judicial apparatus".
Shirin Ebadi, awarded the Nobel Peace Prize last year for her work on women and children's rights, is to represent Kazemi's family in the trial.
Her spokesman Mohammad Ali Dadkhah has asserted the criminal court due to hear the case was "not competent", but the laureate has so far refused to be drawn on speculation over the identity of the killer.
But eyes will also be focused on the intelligence ministry -- which asserts it will not play the fall-guy.
If the judiciary continues to blame the ministry, the intelligence service has warned that it will publicly announce the identity of the "real killer".