Thaindian News

London, Nov.11 (ANI): Iran has denounced Oxford University for establishing a scholarship in honor of Neda Soltan, the student killed during street protests in Tehran over the alleged rigging of the June 12, 2009 presidential election.

In a letter sent from the Iranian Embassy, Tehran claimed that its enemies staged Soltan’s death in June.

It also accused the university of joining a “politically motivated” campaign that would “undermine your scientific credibility” and “make Oxford at odd with the rest of the world’s academic institutions”.

In its response, the university emphasized that the decision to award the scholarship was entirely a matter for the college, Queen’s. Professor Paul Madden, Provost of Queen’s, said that the scholarship would help impoverished Iranians to study at Oxford.

Soltan, a philosophy student, was 26 when she was shot in the chest during a demonstration over President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad’s disputed re-election that engulfed Tehran on June 20.

Video footage of blood pouring from her mouth as she lay dying sped around the world. Soltan became an emblem of the Iranian people’s struggle for freedom, and her death a symbol of the regime’s brutality. The regime refused to give Soltan a proper funeral and did its best to deny responsibility for her death.

Senior officials variously claimed that she had been killed by MI6, by the CIA, by the opposition to discredit the Government and by the BBC to obtain compelling pictures.

But Arash Hejazi, a doctor who tried to save her life, fled to Britain and confirmed in an interview with The Times that the security forces had killed her.

Dr Hejazi said a government militiaman (Basiji) had shot Soltan while on a motorbike. He was caught by other demonstrators and protested that he had only meant to shoot her in the leg.

One Briton was so moved by Soltan’s death that he offered to finance a graduate scholarship in philosophy at Queen’s in her name. The provost and 37 fellows on the college’s governing body quickly accepted the idea.

Queen’s posted a statement on its website recently saying it was delighted to establish the scholarship, worth about 4,000 pounds over two years, and named the first beneficiary as Arianne Shahvisi, who is studying philosophy of physics.

It quoted Shahvisi as saying that the award was “particularly meaningful to me, being a young woman of Iranian descent, also studying philosophy”.

She offered condolences to Soltan’s family, adding: “I hope that in succeeding in my studies at Oxford I can do justice to the name of their brave and gifted daughter.”

An Iranian academic said the letter from the embassy showed how seriously Soltan’s death had damaged the regime. (ANI)