Let's see ... Sarah Palin and her book? naaah ... Michaele Salahi and her celebrity aspirations? uh-uh ... I'll go with Neda Agha-Soltan.
Who, you might ask? ... Exactly!
It's been less than a month since Queen’s College, in Oxford, England, announced that it had established the “Neda Agha-Soltan Graduate Scholarship” for philosophy students of Iranian descent. The scholarship is named in honor of a young woman that some have called the "Angel of Tehran" ... and, really, that's not much of a stretch, at all.
In this report from the Telegraph/UK, Layla Ferani writes that "on a hot day in June this year, protesters gathered in Tehran to chant slogans against Iran’s Supreme Leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei. A 26-year-old philosophy student wearing blue jeans and tennis shoes looked on, before suddenly falling to the ground. She had been shot through the chest."
"Shaky video footage, captured on another protester’s mobile phone, shows blood streaming from her nose and mouth as several men attempt to stop the bleeding. Then, in what would become the most harrowing image of the post-election unrest, Neda Agha-Soltan’s eyes rolled towards the camera, and her body went limp."
Is it me, or has it been very, VERY quiet - in both the actual and the virtual worlds - regarding the events of this summer in Iran? With the exception of Eric at Fire Ant Gazette, no one in the local blogosphere (myself included) makes even a passing mention of it today.
But then, along comes the announcement of that scholarship in Oxford ... and the not-quite-unexpected response from official Iran, that the "Iranian Embassy in Britain criticized University of Oxford's establishment of a scholarship in the name of Neda Agha-Soltan, the young woman who was shot to death in the post-election events in Iran." ... all of which makes me think Queen's College did the right thing.
Who, you might ask? ... Exactly!
It's been less than a month since Queen’s College, in Oxford, England, announced that it had established the “Neda Agha-Soltan Graduate Scholarship” for philosophy students of Iranian descent. The scholarship is named in honor of a young woman that some have called the "Angel of Tehran" ... and, really, that's not much of a stretch, at all.
In this report from the Telegraph/UK, Layla Ferani writes that "on a hot day in June this year, protesters gathered in Tehran to chant slogans against Iran’s Supreme Leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei. A 26-year-old philosophy student wearing blue jeans and tennis shoes looked on, before suddenly falling to the ground. She had been shot through the chest."
"Shaky video footage, captured on another protester’s mobile phone, shows blood streaming from her nose and mouth as several men attempt to stop the bleeding. Then, in what would become the most harrowing image of the post-election unrest, Neda Agha-Soltan’s eyes rolled towards the camera, and her body went limp."
Is it me, or has it been very, VERY quiet - in both the actual and the virtual worlds - regarding the events of this summer in Iran? With the exception of Eric at Fire Ant Gazette, no one in the local blogosphere (myself included) makes even a passing mention of it today.
But then, along comes the announcement of that scholarship in Oxford ... and the not-quite-unexpected response from official Iran, that the "Iranian Embassy in Britain criticized University of Oxford's establishment of a scholarship in the name of Neda Agha-Soltan, the young woman who was shot to death in the post-election events in Iran." ... all of which makes me think Queen's College did the right thing.
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