The doctor seen rushing to the side of young Neda Agha-Soltan in the famous video of her death is now safely in Britain, and has broken his silence by granting his first interview to the BBC.

Dr. Arash Hejazi, who is trained as a physician but is well known as a writer in Iran and runs a publishing house, happened to be one of the first people on the scene when Neda was shot, and found himself caught up in a moment in history he would likely never have chosen for himself.

As he tells the BBC, he was close enough to Neda when she was shot that it could have been him. He was shaken to the core by the incident, and has feared for his own safety since.

"I want the world to know I am here on my own will," he told the BBC. It is important to him to set the record straight on Neda's death, particularly because some have suggested that the video was staged, or that she was shot by another protester, instead of being targeted by Iranian militia.

He happened to be a witness to the scene because it was very near his office, and he went outside with others to see what was happening in the streets in the wake of the election controversy. He confirms that Neda died very quickly, within a minute or so after the bullet exploded in her chest, and he does not know if an autopsy was done, since the body was taken away by authorities shortly thereafter.

Hejazi does not want Neda's death to be in vain.  A firm believer in freedom of speech, he has broken his own silence at great risk to himself in order to get Neda's story out to the world and have her death be meaningful in pursuit of the ideals many Iranians are currently seeking.

He does not believe he can return to Iran for the present, given the volatility of the post-election situation and the controversy surrounding Neda's death.