Street reenactment of Neda's death condemned by her mother

street reenactment of Neda Agha-Soltan's death by Basiji member

Mother of Neda Agha-Soltan, the young Iranian woman who was shot to death on the streets of Tehran during protests to the re-election of Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, spoke out against Iranian government’s efforts to portray her daughter’s death as a foreign conspiracy.

Yesterday, a gathering of pro-Ahmadinejad students in front of the British Embassy claimed that Arash Hejazi, the physician who tried to save her life on the scene, along with Britain were involved in the murder of Neda Agha-Soltan. Ahmadinejad supporters then called on Britain to remand Arash Hejazi to Iranian judiciary for prosecution.

Arash Hejazi, who was by Neda Agha-Soltan's side in the last moments of her life, told BBC television network that “the shot came from the direction of a Basij militiaman toward Neda and people caught the Basiji individual and saw his identity card.”

In an interview with Jarass website, mother of Neda Agha-Soltan claims: “They killed my daughter. Once they threatened me to keep silent and it slipped their tongue that they had marked my daughter. They told me that they had filmed me and my daughter in previous demonstrations. This shows that they had marked my daughter and they killed her on that day. Now they have put on a show in front of the British Embassy!”

Earlier a group of Basij women enacted the death of Neda Agha-Soltan in front of the British Embassy in Tehran in a street performance entitled: “Reenactment of the Suspicious Death of Neda Agha-Soltan.” They also demanded the return of Arash Hejazi to Iran for sentencing.

The images of Neda Agha-Soltan’s last moments was caught on amateur video and posted on the web. This caused international outrage against the government’s violent crackdown on Iran’s election protesters. Therefore, the government has made every effort to deny its role in her death.

In the post-election protests, dozens of protesters have been killed. Reformist sources have identified at least 72 deaths. The government claims these numbers are exaggerated. They also claim the majority of the dead belong to the Basij forces.

Basij is a volunteer militia force under the command of Iran Revolutionary Guards. They have been instrumental in putting down the protests to the election.