Oxford scholarship named after murdered Iranian student

Iran has condemned an Oxford University college for creating and naming a scholarship after a student killed during protests in Tehran earlier this year.

Queen’s college announced the graduate scholarship in memory of Neda Agha-Soltan who died on the 20 June at the age of 27.

Professor Paul Madden, provost of Queen’s college, said: "The college is keen to support graduate students and this scholarship will help Iranian students to study at Oxford, regardless of their financial background.”

Agha-Soltan, who was shot by an unknown gunman, had her last moments captured on video and became a world wide symbol for the resistance to the Iranian regime.

The graduate scholarship for philosophy, the subject studied by Agha-Soltan, was set up for Iranian students, although application is open to anyone. The identity of the donor was not disclosed.

Prof Madden said: "Donors make their own decisions, within reason, on how to name scholarships that they fund.

“In this case, the donor who was instrumental in establishing the scholarship is a British citizen and is well known to the college.”

The scholarship has received a formal condemnation from Iran as a “politically motivated move”.

A letter from the Iranian embassy in London stated that: “The involvement of the university in Iran's internal affairs, particularly in the country's post-election events of which the British media played a leading role, would lead to the loss of the university's scientific prestige and academic goals.”

The embassy added: “This has nothing to do with the university's position and goals and will not help Iran and Britain improve their relations.”

The Iranian embassy also revealed the involvement of Oxford University in a criminal case, presently under investigation by the Iranian police.

The first holder of the scholarship, Arianne Shahvisi, is studying for a master’s degree in the philosophy of physics.

Ms Shahvisi said: “It is a great honour to be the first student to receive the scholarship in the memory of Neda Agha-Soltan, which is particularly meaningful to me, being a young woman of Iranian descent also studying philosophy.

“In accepting the scholarship, I extend my sincere condolences to the Agha-Soltan family, and hope that in succeeding in my studies at Oxford, I can do justice to the name of their brave and gifted daughter.”