Hans Rustad 
Det må være et ytterst dårlig tegn for regimet i Iran: De hevder nå i fullt alvor at Neda Agha Soltan ble drept av en utenlandsk konspirasjon, der en iransk eksillege i Storbritannia har spilt en rolle sammen med utenlandske krefter. Velkommen til galehuset. Dette minner om hva Stalins nidkjære bødler kokte sammen under skueprosessene, og de oppførte seg som om de trodde det selv. Det gjør sikkert også deler av Revolusjongarden og Basijmilitsen som står for terroren. Det er en merkelig psykologisk mekanisme man finner i totalitære stater.
Men at regimet kjører ut dette offisielt, vitner om at man har mistet dømmekraften. Dette vil definitivt koste Iran mye goodwill. Hvem vil bli assosiert med galninger?
Neda Agha Soltans martyrdød har hele tiden irritert regimet. Hun er blitt et symbol, og regimet gjør alt for å stanse det. Nå har Oxford University opprettet et stipend i filosofi i hennes navn. Det har fått regimet til å se rødt. En gruppe kvinner demonstrerte onsdag utenfor den britiske ambassaen med krav om at den iranske legen Arash Hejazi må utleveres. Men kvinnene sto der ikke tilfeldig. Samtidig sender myndighetene et brev til Oxford der de protesterer mot stipendet. Slik sikrer de seg at deres vanvittige forestillinger blir kjent over hele verden, til skam for alle iranere.
Oxford’s Queen’s College established the Neda Agha Soltan Graduate Scholarship in Philosophy earlier this year, named for the 27-year-old student fatally shot on June 20 on the sidelines of a Tehran demonstration. Her dying moments were caught on a video viewed by millions on the Internet, and she became a potent symbol of the opposition’s struggle.
«It seems that the University of Oxford has stepped up involvement in a politically motivated campaign which is not only in sharp contrast with academic objectives» but also linked to British interference in Iran’s post-election turmoil, Iran’s Embassy in London said in a letter to the provost of the British university’s college. Queen’s College confirmed it had received the letter dated Tuesday.
Iran has in the past accused Britain of playing a role in the protests following the June 12 presidential election and meddling in its internal affairs. The opposition said President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad won the election by fraud. But hard-liners have described the massive protests as a plot by Iran’s enemies to overthrow the system of clerical rule through a ‘velvet revolution.’
The Iranian letter said Soltan’s «suspicious death» is still a criminal case being investigated by the police at home. It said she had been shot on an isolated street far from the protesters and her «murderers» had filmed her and her companions for 20 minutes before the killing.
The letter also mentioned Arash Hejazi, an Iranian doctor who was with Soltan at the time she was shot and said he tried to save her life. Hejazi is studying at Oxford and was visiting Iran at the time.
«Surprising, an Oxford fellow, Mr. Arash Hejazi, who had arrived in Iran two days before Neda’s killing, was present on the scene when she was bleeding to death and immediately left for London the day after her horrible death,» the letter said. «There is further supporting evidence indicating a pre-made scenario and other complications yet to be investigated.
In July, a couple weeks after Soltan’s death, Iran’s police chief said intelligence officials were seeking Hejazi. That came after Hejazi returned to London and told the BBC that Soltan apparently was shot by a member of the volunteer Basij militia, which is linked to Iran’s powerful and elite Revolutionary Guard corps. Hejazi said protesters spotted an armed member of the militia on a motorcycle, and stopped and disarmed him.
