President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad of Iran has ordered an inquiry in to the "suspicious" death of Neda Soltan, the woman shot by government militiamen during a protest in Tehran.

The President sent a letter to the chief of Iran's judiciary, Ayatollah Mahmoud Hashemi Shahroudi, requesting a serious investigation to help to identify and prosecute “the elements” behind the killing earlier this month.

“Given the many fabricated reports around this heartbreaking incident and the widespread propaganda by the foreign media... it seems there is clear interference by the enemies of Iran who want to misuse the situation politically and tarnish the clean image of the Islamic republic,” the president wrote.

“Therefore I am asking you to order the judicial authorities to probe the killing of this woman with utmost seriousness and identify and prosecute the elements behind the killing."

The video of Miss Soltan, 26, dying on the street in a pool of blood, which was posted on YouTube and Facebook, caused international outrage and turned her into a symbol of the Iranian regime’s brutality towards their people.

Miss Soltan, a music student, was shot in the chest on Saturday June 20 as she stood near her friends’ car in a traffic jam on Karegar Street while travelling to a demonstration when supporters of the defeated election candidate Mir Hossein Mousavi clashed with riot police and Basij militiamen.

Her last words were “I’m burning! I’m burning”, according to her music teacher Hamid Panahi, who was standing beside her.

Friends and Arash Hejazi, a doctor, who has since fled Iran, rushed to her aid but Miss Soltan died on the way to Sharait hospital in the capital.

A media blackout was imposed in Iran on reporting her death but footage of the incident was posted on the internet and opposition protesters held posters carrying Miss Soltan’s image and the words: “I am Neda.”

State media said that at least 10 people died on that day, blaming the violence on “terrorists” and “vandals”.

Iranian state television has said that Miss Soltan was not shot by a bullet used by Iranian security forces. It said filming of the scene, and its swift broadcast to foreign media, suggested that the incident had been planned.

In his letter to Ayatollah Shahroudi, Mr Ahmadinejad termed her death “suspicious,” the news agency IRNA said.

State media have said that 20 people were killed in violence since the election on June 12 and the authorities have accused Mr Moussavi of responsibility for the bloodshed.

He says the government is to blame. The commander of the pro-government Basij militia, which says eight of its members have been killed during the unrest, said that a number of people had been arrested who had put on Basij or police uniforms to engage in sabotage.

Hojjatoleslam Hussein Taeb said: “The police arrested various individuals in the course of the unrest who had put on police or Basij uniforms.”

He added that 300 Basij members had also been wounded during post-election violence.

Miss Soltan was buried in Behesht Zahra cemetery in southern Tehran after her family was forbidden from holding a funeral in a mosque or placing mourning banners outside their apartment in the Tehran Pars district.

The Guardians Council, an unelected body of 12 jurists and clerics, set up a committee today to conduct a partial recount of the contested election. But Mr Mousavi and his fellow candidate Mehdi Karroubi rejected the panel and declined to send any representatives to oversee their work.

The International Federation for Human Rights said yesterday that more than 2,000 people are still in detention and hundreds more are missing across Iran since a government crackdown on the opposition. Among those arrested are reformists, journalists and analysts, including supporters of Mr Mousavi and even some figures close to top officials, in a sign of cracks appearing within the regime over the election.

Since the election at least 20 people have been also killed and many more wounded in clashes with security forces, according to state media.

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