Britain's Oxford University on Wednesday defended a decision to set up a scholarship in honor of a young Iranian woman shot dead during the recent election protests, which has enraged Tehran.
Iran told the university that dedicating a scholarship to Neda Agha-Soltan was a "politically motivated" campaign that would "undermine your scientific credibility," The Times newspaper reported.
Oxford said the decision to award the scholarship had been taken by Queen's College and was solely a matter for the college, which has autonomous status within the university's structure.
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 provost of Queen's College, Professor Paul Madden, 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.
"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."
Agha-Soltan, a 26-year-old philosophy student, became an emblem of the opposition uprising in Iran after she was shot dead during a protest in Tehran in June against the re-election of President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad.
Amateur video of her bleeding to death spread rapidly around the world.
The Iranian Embassy in London claimed in a letter to Oxford that the death was staged by Iran's enemies.
It said the scholarship would "make Oxford at odd (sic) with the rest of the world's academic institutions," according to The Times.
First beneficiary named
Queen's named the first beneficiary of the award, worth about £4,000 (€4,400, $6,600) over two years, as Arianne Shahvisi, who is studying philosophy of physics.
In a statement issued by the college, she said the award was "particularly meaningful to me, being a young woman of Iranian descent, also studying philosophy."
She offered condolences to Agha-Soltan's family, saying: "I hope that in succeeding in my studies at Oxford I can do justice to the name of their brave and gifted daughter."
Ahmadinejad has called for a probe into Agha-Soltan's death, saying there had been fabricated reports about the incident and "widespread propaganda" by the foreign media.
A group of young women from the Basij Islamic militia protested outside the British embassy in Tehran on Wednesday to condemn Britain and demand the extradition of an Iranian doctor who said he witnessed Agha-Soltan's death.
Arash Hejazi says he tried to save her and has blamed the militia for her killing, but the demonstrators held aloft placards proclaiming him as the "murderer", demanding his extradition and also shouting "death to Britain."
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