Neda Agha-Soltan Graduate Scholarship

[5] Anonymous British diplomatic sources were reported as saying that the creation of the scholarship had put "another nail into the coffin" of relations between Britain and Iran.

[5] Neda Agha-Soltan, a 26-year-old philosophy student, was shot and killed on 20 June 2009 during street protests in Iran that followed the disputed presidential election.

[6] Eslamain wrote, "It seems that the University of Oxford has stepped up involvement in a politically motivated campaign which is not only in sharp contract with its academic objectives, but also is linked with a chain of events in post-Iranian presidential elections blamed for British interference both at home and abroad".

[2] The letter also said that the "decision to abuse Neda's case to establish a graduate scholarship will highly politicise your academic institution, undermining your scientific credibility – along with British press which made exceptionally a lot of hue and cry on Neda's death – will make Oxford at odd [sic] with the rest of the world's academic institutions".

[2] Eslamain asked for the university's governing board to be informed of "the Iranian views", and finished by saying, "Surely, your steps to achieve your attractions through non-politically supported programmes can better heal the wounds of her family and her nation".

[6] A British-Iranian student, Leyla Ferani, writing in The Daily Telegraph, said that the establishment of the scholarship was "more than commendable", and "could prove to be a galvanising tool for the protestors".

[4] She said that "Oxford's move is as striking as it is heartening", adding that it "honours the whole student body in Iran which has been repressed and tortured by the Islamic Republic".

She commented that "In one of Britain’s top universities, it will foster crucial awareness of the government's tyrannical attitude towards education", and said that the scholarship could be Soltan's "most important legacy".

[3] UK diplomatic sources, speaking anonymously to The Times, said that if the government had been asked, it would have advised against the creation of the scholarship, because Iran would see it as an act of provocation, and because it would interfere with efforts to free Iranians working for the British Embassy in Tehran who had been detained for participating in the post-election protests.