Neda Agha Soltan, who was shot on July 20th during street protests in Tehran, has become a symbol of protest. Today thousands went to the cemetery where she’s buried south of Tehran to mourn 40 days after her death and remember others killed during these last six weeks of protest.
“She stood for what all these people are standing for right now – justice, truth, freedom and for that she was murdered. That dream hasn’t gone away,” said Arash Hejazi, the doctor seen in mobile phone footage trying to revive the music student as she lay dying.
Dr Hejazi is in Britain now, and doesn’t know if he’ll be able to return to Tehran. The authorities are trying to discredit him, because he has spoken to the international media about what he saw on that day.
When I met him, he gave more details. He didn’t see the shooting, but he did witness what the crowd of protestors did next.
“They seized a man and took his ID card,” he said. “I heard him shouting ‘I didn’t want to kill her’, and people started shouting, ‘He’s a basij’. The next thing I realised is they were taking off his shirt. That was when I saw scars on his back. That’s a sign to help identify this person. Then they released him.”
He said that an ID card posted anonymously online is that of the man he saw seized by the crowd, who shouted “I didn’t want to kill her.”
For legal reasons, we can’t show the ID card which was posted online, but I can tell you that it shows that the suspect is a member of a group called Heyat Razmandegan in west Tehran. Its website says that Heyat Razmandegan is a part of the basij militia, set up to defend the cultural values of Islam against western cultural encroachment.
The Iranian authorities deny that Neda’s killer was a member of the security forces and have ordered an investigation into the incident.
I can’t corroborate Dr Hejazi’s report, but he said he was coming forward now to help the authorities identify the suspect so he can face trial.
“The alleged shooter can be identified now, can be interrogated in Iran or wherever he is and he can explain why he was there at the moment, why was he shouting that he didn’t want to kill her. And if he’s guilty he can meet justice,” he said.