The circumstances of her death remain oblique apart from this account from a bystander: "A young woman who was standing with her father watching the protests was shot by a basij [pro-government militia] member hiding on the rooftop of a civilian house. He had clear shot [sic] at the girl and could not miss her.
"However, he aimed straight at her heart. I am a doctor, so I rushed to try to save her. But the impact of the gunshot was so fierce that the bullet had blasted inside the victim s chest, and she died in less than two minutes."" ----------------------
The doctor who tried to save an Iranian protester as she bled to death on a street in Tehran has told the BBC of her final moments.
Dr Hejazi also told how passers-by then seized an armed Basij militia volunteer who appeared to admit shooting Ms Soltan.
He doubted that he would be able to return to Iran after talking openly about Ms Soltan's killing.
"Anti-riot police were coming by motorcycles towards the crowd."
Dr Hejazi said he saw Ms Soltan, who he did not know, with an older man who he thought was her father but later on learned was her music teacher.
"Suddenly everything turned crazy. The police threw teargas and the motorcycles started rushing towards the crowd. We ran to an intersection and people were just standing. They didn't know what to do.
But later he saw protesters grab an armed man on a motorcycle.
"People shouted 'we got him, we got him'. They disarmed him and took out his identity card which showed he was a Basij member. People were furious and he was shouting, 'I didn't want to kill her'.
"People didn't know what do to do with him so they let him go. But they took his identity card. There are people there who know who he is. Some people were also taking photos of him." ------------------
yeah, sure, they just let the guy go. So where are the photos of the shooter???
LONDON (Reuters) One person captured on Internet videos helping "Neda," the young Iranian woman killed last week who has become an icon of the protests, was identified by a British newspaper on Friday as a doctor who has since fled Iran.
"She was just a person in the street who was against the injustice going on in her country, and for that she was murdered," said Hejazi, an Iranian who is resident in Britain but says he went to Tehran on a business trip.
Hejazi, 38, said he fled from Iran when the video footage sped around the world on websites because he feared his own life might be in danger as he could be seen with Soltan.
Before trying to leave, he said he emailed a friend in Britain to say he hoped to join his family in the university city of Oxford where he was studying: "If something happens to me, please take care of (my wife and son)."
>The circumstances of her death remain oblique apart from this account >from a bystander: "A young woman who was standing with her father >watching the protests was shot by a basij [pro-government militia] >member hiding on the rooftop of a civilian house. He had clear shot >[sic] at the girl and could not miss her.
>"However, he aimed straight at her heart. I am a doctor, so I rushed >to try to save her. But the impact of the gunshot was so fierce that >the bullet had blasted inside the victim s chest, and she died in less >than two minutes."" >----------------------
>The doctor who tried to save an Iranian protester as she bled to death >on a street in Tehran has told the BBC of her final moments.
>Dr Hejazi also told how passers-by then seized an armed Basij militia >volunteer who appeared to admit shooting Ms Soltan.
>He doubted that he would be able to return to Iran after talking >openly about Ms Soltan's killing.
>"Anti-riot police were coming by motorcycles towards the crowd."
>Dr Hejazi said he saw Ms Soltan, who he did not know, with an older >man who he thought was her father but later on learned was her music >teacher.
>"Suddenly everything turned crazy. The police threw teargas and the >motorcycles started rushing towards the crowd. We ran to an >intersection and people were just standing. They didn't know what to >do.
>But later he saw protesters grab an armed man on a motorcycle.
>"People shouted 'we got him, we got him'. They disarmed him and took >out his identity card which showed he was a Basij member. People were >furious and he was shouting, 'I didn't want to kill her'.
>"People didn't know what do to do with him so they let him go. But >they took his identity card. There are people there who know who he >is. Some people were also taking photos of him." >------------------
>yeah, sure, they just let the guy go. > So where are the photos of the shooter???
Arash Hejazi is an Iranian editor, novel writer and journalist. Born in 1971, Tehran, Iran, son of a university professor and a teacher, he graduated from medical school in 1996 and in 1997, co-founded an independent publishing house named Caravan Books in Tehran, where he was a senior editor and is the editorial director now. He has also been the editor in chief of two literary and cultural magazines; Kamyaab (2000 2003) and BookFiesta (2003 2008). The later was closed down by the Ministry of Culture and Islamic Guidance of Iran in 2008, as a result of publishing a short story by the Italian writer Primo Levi. He is a member of Tehran Union of Publishers and Booksellers (TUPB) and was the managing editor of its journal, Sanat-e-Nashr (Publishing Industry), from 2006 to 2007. He was one of the nominees to receive the Freedom to Publish Prize held by International Publishers Association (IPA) in 2006. He is also a novel writer, whose most known novel The Princess of the Land of Eternity was shortlisted for two major Iranian literary prizes and has sold more than 20,000 copies in Iran since its first publication in 2003. He is now a postgraduate student in publishing in Oxford Brookes University.
Arash Hejazi Iranian novel and short story writer, literary translator, journalist, and physician. He was born in Tehran, Iran, in 1971. He is the Chief Editor of Caravan Books Publishing House and the Chief Editor of Book Fiesta Monthly for culture and art. He is best known for his novel The Princess of the Land of Eternity.
The following Saturday, shortly before 7pm, he was sitting in his office (his office? He lives in the UK) with three friends when they heard a commotion in nearby Kargar Street. They went to see what was happening and found riot police some of them on motorcycles charging towards a huge crowd of protesters, firing teargas and lashing out with their batons. It was terrifying, he said. Everybody started running. But amid the pandemonium he noticed Neda Soltan. She had been caught up in the swirling emotion of the moment. He saw her shouting Death to the Dictator
Doctor tells how Neda Soltan was shot dead by Ahmadinejad's basij
Martin Fletcher
But amid the pandemonium he noticed Neda Soltan. She had been caught up in the swirling emotion of the moment. He saw her shouting Death to the Dictator
all of a sudden we heard a blast. I asked my friend what it was,..."
As Miss Soltan was being taken to hospital another commotion erupted about 20 metres away. A crowd of demonstrators had caught the basij an Islamic volunteer militaman who shot her from his motorbike. He was a big, strong man in his forties, clean-shaven except for a moustache.
I heard him shouting, I didn t want to kill her. I didn t want to kill her. I meant to shoot her in the leg . The crowd were furious. Some were trying to lynch him. Others were saying: We re not killers. Don t harm him.
All agreed that there was no point in handing the man to the police so they simply took his identify card and let him go.
In this video Neda's fiance says she was "killed in a place where there were no clashes", and that "a few minutes later she passed away on the way to hospital".
The following Saturday, shortly before 7pm, he was sitting in his office with three friends when they heard a commotion in nearby Kargar Street. They went to see what was happening and found riot police some of them on motorcycles charging towards a huge crowd of protesters, firing teargas and lashing out with their batons. It was terrifying, he said. Everybody started running. But amid the pandemonium he noticed Neda Soltan. She had been caught up in the swirling emotion of the moment. He saw her shouting Death to the Dictator
" I am a doctor, so I rushed to try to save her. But the impact of the gunshot was so fierce that the bullet had blasted inside the victim s chest, and she died in less than a minute."
Shaping a country: list of Iranian authors June 17, 2009 - (5 days before the Neda video)
Arash Hejazi originally studied to be a medical doctor in Tehran. His thesis in medical school was about "the influences of storytelling on children's anxiety disorders." ........ A staunch advocate of free speech in Iran, Hejazi is openly against the Iranian government's censorship of books.
