The open letter of Neda to President Obama

The letter bellow was posted on my facebook discussion page yesterday by the ID Mehdi Amin, which I’m sure is an alias. The letter is based on my open letter to President Obama; but this time it’s not me who is addressing the President; it’s Neda Agha Soltan. It was a really moving letter and therefore I have posted here (courtesy of Mehdi Amin), so that perhaps President Obama reads it:

Dear Mr. President Obama,
My name is Neda Agha Soltan. I was killed by a Basiji in a street of Tehran while watching a post-election protest. Perhaps you remember me. Millions of people watched me die in less than 40 seconds. Perhaps you remember my open eyes when I took my last breath. But I will live for ever in the memory of freedom loving people of the world. I have become the guardian angle of my sisters and brothers who are fighting for a free Iran; I have become their voice and that is why I am writing to you.
Just imagine one of your daughters dying in the same way as I did! How would you feel if not only the killer went unpunished, but got rewarded for what they did? What would you tell millions of Iranian young people who are feeling that the beacon of freedom has betrayed them by shaking hands with the killers of their sisters and brothers? What would you tell your daughters if they asked why you are rewarding the killers of Neda?
I am the voice of the people of Iran . I am calling upon you to support the democratic movement of people in Iran . I am not asking you to make war. I am not even asking you to help our struggle for freedom. I am just asking you not to support the government that has terrorized its own nation for 30 years. I am just asking you to stand on the side of humanity instead of oppression, torture, rape, and killing.
With regards
Neda Agha-Soltan

Arash Hejazi’s Interview with The Times / November 13, 2009

Iranian doctor Arash Hejazi who tried to rescue Neda Soltan tells of wounds that never heal

As Arash Hejazi sat in an Oxford coffee bar, members of Iran’s Basij militia in Tehran were demanding his extradition outside the British Embassy.

The previous day the Iranian regime had sent an Oxford college a letter of protest over a scholarship given to honour Neda Soltan, the student killed during a huge demonstration against electoral fraud in Tehran in June. The letter also suggested that Dr Hejazi was responsible for her murder.

Read more

Ahmadinejad versus Oxford University and Neda

The Iranian Embassy Objects to the Queens College’s Neda Scholarship

The Queen’s College venerates the memory of Neda Agha Soltan; the Iranian Government blames it on Arash Hejazi!

The paradox in the Iranian Government’s Statement Regarding Neda
The paradox lies in the fact that the Iranian government has reacted in different manners towards the death of Neda. First, the head of the Iranian National TV claimed that the video of her death was fake. But then, when they no longer could deny the death of Neda, they blamed the BBC correspondent in Iran for her death.

However, the Ambassador of Iran in Mexico claimed in an interview that her murder was planned by CIA. The protesters to the election results in Iran and the People’s Mujahedin Organisation where other bodies blamed by different Iranian authorities.

Then, after Arash Hejazi, the doctor who tried to save Neda in her last moment, explained in an interview with BBC that the Iranian militia or Basij were responsible for her death, he himself was ironically held responsible for Neda’s death and a prosecution started to arrest him. The Iranian Police Chief declared officially that Interpol is looking for Arash Hejazi, an allegation that was refuted instantly by Interpol.

More than a week ago, the chief of the Martyr’s foundation of Iran said that Neda could be considered a Martyr if the police and the judiciary approved that she was killed by the Iranian opposition or foreign intelligence services, although the mother of Neda announced that if she was a martyr, she was a martyr for her people, not the Islamic Republic.

Neda versus Ahmadinejad
Now, in an ironical turn of events, when Oxford University decides to venerate the memory of Neda, Ahmadimejad’s government protests against this decision, claiming that it is a ‘political move’ and she is just someone ‘murdered’.

The Involvement of Arash Hejazi
Arash Hejazi’s involvement in the case of Neda is where he was present at the time of her death accidentally. He rushed towards her in an attempt trying to save her. In vain, Neda’s body was drained out of blood in less than a minute. Then, when he believed that the truth was being distorted, he left Iran and in an interview he described the circumstances of her death. Since then, the government of Iran has always been vengeful against him.

However, in the letter of the Embassy of Iran to the Queen’s College, it is claimed that Arash Hejazi who was involved in Neda’s murder, is ‘a fellow’ to the Oxford University. This couldn’t be farther from truth and there will be no surprise if Oxford University discredit’s this claim instantly.

Arash Hejazi has never studied in the University of Oxford and has no relationships to them. He has studied in Oxford Brookes University, an academic body completely separate from the University of Oxford.

The Involvement of the Iranian Government in Neda’s Death
It seems that the Iranian government, trying to conceal its own involvement in the brutal murders that happened after the Presidential elections of Iran, is rushing towards discrediting itself.
No one can deny that on the same day that Neda Agha Soltan died, at least 30 other protesters were shot to death by the Iranian militia. They were shot in the the eye, the chest and the neck, proving that the shooters were aiming to kill, rather than aiming to control.

The Power of Neda

Media Revolution in Iran

How Neda Challenged Ahmadinejad and Censorship in her Death

How the video of Neda Agha Soltan’s death marks a defining moment in the history of media. Has it changed the concept of Freedom to Publish in the digital age?

Neda Agha Soltan murder witness at risk of torture in Tehran prison

Caspian Makan, the fiancé of Neda Agha Soltan, a young woman killed in the recent protests in Iran, has been held in detention since 26 June, after he made a statement linking her murder to the pro-government Basij militia.

Currently held in Evin Prison in Tehran, Caspian Makan is reported to have told his family that if he signs a “confession” saying that the People’s Mojahedeen Organization of Iran (PMOI), a political body banned in Iran since 1981, killed her, then he may be released.

Amnesty International said it fears he may be forced to sign such a “confession” under torture or other ill-treatment, given the pattern of human rights violations in Iran following the election. The organization said that he may be a prisoner of conscience, held for peacefully exercising his right to freedom of expression.
(read the rest)

The problem is that he cannot confess to anything, as he was not present when Neda got shot!

The face of Abbas Kargar Javid — man accused of killing Neda Soltan

The Times
August 20, 2009
The man accused of killing Neda Soltan has been identified as Abbas Kargar Javid, a pro-government militiaman, after photographs of the Basiji’s ID cards appeared on the internet.

The identification challenges the Iranian regime’s claim that foreign agents shot the young woman, who became a global symbol of resistance to the Government of President Ahmadinejad.

Read the rest here.

Neda Agha Soltan’s alleged shooter: Saturday, 1 August 2009

Images of three cards that have been attributed to the shooter of Neda Agha Soltan were published on the internet. I am here confirming that the photo of the individual that appears on this card completely matches the particulars that I recall of the individual who was seized by people a few minutes after Neda was shot, and who was shouting “I didn’t mean to kill her.” However, on that day, his beard had been shaved off, but he had his mustache. But in order to be 100% certain, since sometimes an innocent person is wrongly accused, we should consider another form of proof about this individual.

Because after people seized the shooter, they took his shirt off his body, and on the shooter’s back, I saw some old scars. These scars resembled the traces of wounds produced by a cutting instrument or something sharp.

Please note: I have only identified the owner of the photos. I can’t confirm his personal details. Furthermore, don’t discount the possibility of human error.
I hope that this information can help in bringing this case to justice, and likewise I call on my fellow-citizens to avoid all violence. This information is valuable insofar as it assists in the arrest of this individual. As for the rest, let the law take its course. This individual has the right to be fortunate enough to select an attorney and to defend himself. When people take the law into their own hands, they can cause unintended harm [literally “burn both the good and the bad together.”]

Again, I emphasize: do not allow anger to stain your honor in any way.

With hope for better days,
Arash Hejazi

A note for future generations: 02/07/2009

My fear, however,
is of dying in a land
where the wage of the grave-digger
is higher than the price of human freedom.
Ahmad Shamlu, Iranian contemporary poet

After my June 25th interview on BBC regarding my personal observations on Neda Agha Soltan’s brutal murder, I read in the press on July 1st that a warrant had been issued by Iranian government for me to be arrested.
As I mentioned in my interview with BBC, such a desperate move towards concealing the truth regarding this cruel crime was to be expected from an administration that is built on lies and injustice. I predicted in the aforementioned the interview that they were going to denounce what I said; that they were going to put so many things on me. This administration, instead of trying to find the real murderers of this innocent girl and several other victims and accept responsibility for its inefficiency, is trying to blame every other single soul, country or body that has done nothing wrong.
Pressure is being put on my friends and family in Iran who had nothing to do with this incident. My 70 year old father who is a university professor and a distinguished member of the academic society has been questioned without even knowing what he had to do with any of this.
I just did what every decent human being would have done at the same situation. I tried to save a victim, and when the truth about the circumstances of her death was being distorted by the Iranian State media, I testified for what I had witnessed.
I have lived my life in such a way that does not leave regrets for me. As a trained physician, I was one of the first doctors that travelled to Bam after that terrible earthquake, just to be there for those innocent victims who were on the verge of losing their hopes.
This time, I was there for another innocent victim, by mere accident, without having a clue on what I was going into. But this time, this victim was not killed by a natural disaster. It was greed and lust for power that shed her blood.
I am also a writer, and if you read my novels, my articles and my speeches, you will realise that I have always advocated human rights and have always paid a price for it.
I have always tried to live a truthful and honest life and have never betrayed my values.
I believe what I did in trying to save Neda and tell her story was the right thing to do. I believe, as my dear friend Paulo Coelho says, that god is the lord of the valiant. I believe that the truth shall set us free. I did everything according to my conscience and if I have to pay a price for it, so be it. But I have the right to defend my honour and dignity.
I swear by god who is my witness and I swear by my honour, that I told the truth and nothing but the truth about what I saw.
The Islamic Revolution and the Islamic Republic of Iran were founded on what Iranian people still stand for today. People relied on these beliefs when they fought against tyranny and then when they sacrificed so much blood to defend their country against the invasion of another tyrant, ruling Iraq with iron fist.
However, this lie undermines every other statement of this specific administration of Iran; this administration that has distorted the history of WWII, claims that freedom of press and speech is openly practised in Iran, claims that Iranian prisons hold no political prisoners, claims that there are no censorship practised on books, information, media and the press of Iran, and pretends that it respects civil rights such as freedom of assembly, freedom to protest and equal rights for Iranian citizens, regardless of their gender, race and religion.
In the past twenty days, the world has witnessed through the tearful eyes of the brave Iranians that all these claims have been nothing but lies. I am sure the world will not believe this new lie and will understand that a doctor, writer and publisher has done nothing but what his conscience has dictated, in rushing to help those who needed help, and telling the truth.
Neda was not the only person slain in Iran during this turmoil. Have all those people, innocently murdered, been victims of an international conspiracy? Why aren’t the murderers of the other victims being prosecuted? Or perhaps one should blame the recklessness and inefficiency of the uncontrolled armed militia who failed to wisely handle the legitimate protests of Iranian citizens towards injustice.
I am just a witness. Why prosecute a witness instead of prosecuting the murderer? Have not enough blood been already shed? Should I have remained silent against this gruesome crime, out of fear? Is this the message we are preaching for our next generations?
I believe that no decent global citizen will ever fail to support me and thousands of other Iranians who were beaten, imprisoned, prosecuted and slaughtered, only because they wanted to be a free nation and join the world in the path towards prosperity and justice and share their rich culture and their history of bravery.
I am proud to be part of this. I have done what every decent person would have done, and for that I am being threatened; just as all these martyrs did what every free soul would have done, and for that they were murdered; murdered by a dark hatred towards anything they stood for: freedom, truth, and justice.
Arash Hejazi
July 2nd 2009

The Times (26/06/2009): Doctor tells how Neda Soltan was shot

They were a few brief minutes that Arash Hejazi will never forget, that have changed his life for ever, that have shocked the world and ripped every last shred of legitimacy from Iran’s tyrannical regime.

There was the pandemonium of the protests, the terror as the riot police charged, and the sudden crack. And there was this beautiful young woman looking down at her chest in surprise as the blood gushed out.

Dr Hejazi rushed to help as Neda Soltan’s life rapidly ebbed away….

Read the rest here