A group of pro-regime students in Iran have reenacted the death of
Neda Agha Soltan, who was killed in Iran's postelection violence, and accused the doctor who allegedly tried to save her life of involvement in her murder.
According to the semi-official
Fars news agency, the students gathered outside the British Embassy in Tehran on December 2 to perform the play, which they called "her real murder scene."
The staging of the play was designed to put pressure on British officials to extradite
Arash Hejazi, the doctor who is now studying in the United Kingdom after claiming that it was a member of Iran’s Basij that shot Neda in the chest.
He also said that the Basij member responsible was detained by the crowd, who took away his ID card.
In the reenactment, the person playing Hejazi led chants against the Iranian regime, before one of the doctor's friends shoots her from behind.
The students also chanted, "Death to the BBC, which tells lies."
Fars has some good
photos of the reenactment.
(The shots of the actor wearing the Neda mask seem particularly grotesque and the Union Jack armbands and flags show once again that, however tenuous the link, blaming the Brits is
the gift that keeps on giving.)
-- Luke Allnutt