IRAN: Scholarship honoring slain protester Neda Agha-Soltan irks Iranian officials

Iranian officials are up in arms over a decision by The Queen's College at the University of Oxford in Britain to establish a scholarship fund in memory of Neda Agha-Soltan, the 27-year-old Iranian woman whose videotaped June 20 death at the hands of an unknown gunman made her an international symbol of Iran's opposition movement. 

Iran's Embassy in Britain formally condemned the decision.  In a letter to the school's chancellor, the embassy called it a ploy to attract students. 

"It was a politically-motivated move," said the letter, cited in an article on the website of Iran's Press TV. "It seems that Oxford University is involved in a criminal case, which is still under investigation by the Iranian police."

Iranian officials have suggested her death was caused by foreign operatives seeking to sully the image of the Islamic Republic.

The embassy said the young woman's death took place "far from the scene of protests" after Iran's cataclysmic presidential elections and was a "complicated and planned" affair condemned by President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad. 

"The involvement of the university in Iran's internal affairs, particularly in the country's post-election events of which the British media played a leading role, would lead to the loss of the university's scientific prestige and academic goals," the letter said."This has nothing to do with the university's position and goals and will not help Iran and Britain improve their relations."

In a press announcement on its website, Oxford said it was "delighted" to honor Agha-Soltan, a onetime student of Islamic philosophy, thanks to "two generous gifts" from benefactors it does not name. 

"Oxford is increasingly losing out to its competitors in the race to recruit top graduate students," said Professor Paul Madden, the school's provost. "Donations such as those that have enabled us to create the Neda Agha-Soltan Scholarship are absolutely vital for us to continue to attract and retain the best young minds."

Though anyone is eligible for scholarship, which provides enough money to pay a graduate or undergraduate student's entire fees, preference is to be given to students of Iranian descent, said announcement. 

Arianne Shahvisi, a philosophy of physics student of Iranian background who is the scholarship's first recipient, called it a "great honor" to be granted the scholarship. "In accepting the scholarship, I extend my sincere condolences to the Agha-Soltan family, and hope that in succeeding in my studies at Oxford, I can do justice to the name of their brave and gifted daughter," she wrote, according to the website. 

-- Borzou Daragahi in Beirut

Photo: A man in Hamburg, Germany, lights a candle by a photo of Neda Agha-Soltan, killed at a Tehran demonstration. Credit: Bodo Marks / EPA

Comments

[Berzan Ahmed]

please watching:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1-SA3936nyE

plesase road below:

http://iranallday.blogspot.com/2009/11/ehsan-fatahiyan-36-hours-left.html

http://www.kurdishherald.com/issue/002/article05.php

"Whether it is an act as simple as the preservation of Kurdish language and culture, or the organizing of peaceful associations that aim to highlight human rights issues in Iran, Kurdish women and men, children and seniors, bravely endure torture and imprisonment merely as a result of supporting democracy."

The Persecution of Kurdish Political Activists in Iran

Iran has undoubtedly become one of the International Community’s most discussed countries in the world. The Islamic Republic’s pursuance of nuclear technology has raised concerns but has also overshadowed perhaps the more concerning and most serious issues. Under the leadership
of the Islamic Republic of Iran, the rate of executions in Iran has risen to one of the highest in the world. From a positive perspective, the execution of juvenile offenders has garnered a great deal of attention
from nongovernmental organizations such as Human Rights Watch. However, it is important to note that still such attention has not been proportionately
directed towards the persecution and execution of Kurdish prisoners in Iran.

The persecution of Kurdish activists is extremely widespread and many of these activists are sentenced to death after unjust trials that take only minutes. Furthermore, the intensity of the persecution of the Kurds has been concertedly masked by the leadership in Tehran.
At present, there are a number of specific cases in which Kurdish activists have been sentenced to face imminent execution after short show-trials because of their political activities.

[ND]

AWESOME!!!!! Neda is immortal!!!! Viva la Musica...Viva Iran...Viva La Woman

[Archangel (Amerika)]

My sincere "thank you" to the two generous benefactors who endowed this scholarship in Neda Agha-Soltan's honor. Despite that most reports described that Neda was not directly involved in any protest at large, it is fitting that her life will be honored by her death for a long, long time. In this she shall be remembered to the entire world as a martyr for those struggling to break the bonds of oppression, CENSORSHIP and injustice.
As for you Iranian officials complaining to our deaf ears, to your protest of this endowment I say; grit your teeth on your way to rot in hell while you await your eventual overthrow and future trials for the crimes you have committed and sanctioned against the Iranian people. Long live Neda Agha-Soltan in the hearts and minds of every freedom seeking human being.