Iranian Neda's mother calls for justice

NEW YORK, Aug. 31 (UPI) -- The mother of the Iranian women whose shooting death became the symbol of an anti-government movement made an international appeal to find the killer.

Iranian authorities in the aftermath of disputed presidential elections in June 2009 arrested nearly 5,000 people. More than 100 activists were executed and opposition groups say at least 80 were killed in custody or in the streets.

Neda Ahgha Soltan became the symbol of the opposition when she was allegedly gunned down by Iranian security forces during election unrest.

Hajar Rostami, the mother of the 26-year-old woman, told the International Campaign for Human Rights in Iran that she was putting an end to her silence regarding her daughter's death.

"Now I want the world to help me find Neda's murderer," she told the organization. She appealed to the New York rights organization and the international court in The Hague to help bring her daughter's killer to justice.

Iran has offered at least three separate accounts of the incident, blaming U.S. intelligence networks, the opposition movement and terrorist groups for the shooting, which was captured on a cell-phone camera and distributed on the Internet.

"No one believes these lies, neither Iranian people nor those abroad," said Rostami.