Fleeing Doc Tells of Neda's End

A doctor who has fled Iran said murdered protester Neda Agha-Soltan died less than a minute after she was shot on the streets of Tehran as a bullet seemed to "explode" in her chest, reports the BBC. "I saw blood gushing out of Neda's chest. She was in a shocked situation, just looking at her chest," said Dr. Arash Hejazi. "We ran to her and lay her on the ground. Her blood was draining out of her body."

She never said a word, but Hejazi tells the Times of London he believes she was "trying to ask a question: 'Why?' " The shooter, a Basij militia volunteer, was grabbed by a mob on the street, but he insisted he "didn't want to kill her," and only intended to shoot her in the leg, says Hejazi. The crowd freed him after taking his identity card. Hejazi is in England and believes he will be punished severely if he ever returns to Iran for speaking about the shooting.


(More Neda Agha Soltan stories.)