Death of Neda Agha-Soltan
Encyclopedia
Footage of the death of Neda Agha-Soltan ( - Nedā Āġā Soltān; January 23, 1983 – June 20, 2009) drew international attention after she was killed during the 2009 Iranian election protests
. Her death was captured on video by bystanders and broadcast over the Internet and the video became a rallying point for the opposition. It was described as "probably the most widely witnessed death in human history".
Nedā (ندا) is a word used in Classic Persian and modern Persian
to mean “voice”, calling (sometimes understood as a “divine message”, but this is not the etymological sense of ندا), and she has been referred to as the "voice of Iran". Her death became iconic in the struggle of Iranian protesters against the disputed election of President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad.
family of three children, whose family resided in a fourth floor flat on Meshkini Street in the Tehranpars
district of Tehran. Her father is a civil servant and her mother is a homemaker. She graduated from Islamic Azad University
, where she had studied Islamic theology as well as secular philosophies. She was divorced, and according to her mother, had difficulty finding work because of how employers perceived her.
Agha-Soltan was an aspiring, underground
musician
, who was studying her craft through private voice and music lessons. She had studied the violin and had an as-yet-undelivered piano on order at the time of her death. She worked for her family's travel agency Agha-Soltan enjoyed travelling, having saved up money to go on package tours with her friends to Dubai
, Thailand
and Turkey
. She had studied Turkish
, hoping it would aid her as a guide for Iranians on foreign tours in Turkey. It was in Turkey, two months prior to her death, that she met her fiancé, 37-year-old Caspian Makan, who worked as a photojournalist in Tehran
.
Those who knew her maintain that Agha-Soltan had not previously been very political – she had not supported any particular candidate in the 2009 Iran elections – but that anger over the election results prompted her to join the protest. Her voice
and music teacher, Hamid Panahi, who was accompanying Agha-Soltan during the protest and can be seen on the video trying to comfort the dying woman, told the media: "She couldn't stand the injustice of it." Panahi went on to state: "All she wanted was the proper vote of the people to be counted. She wanted to show with her presence that, 'I'm here, I also voted, and my vote wasn't counted', although her family has stated that she attempted to vote and didn't because no representatives of any other parties than the incumbent were present, "It was a very peaceful act of protest, without any violence."
Her name is often miscited as "Neda Soltani". Neda Soltani is a different woman, whose Facebook profile photo was mistakenly published in many articles about the incident. She tried in vain to remove her photo from the internet. Finally, Neda Soltani had to flee from Iran and was granted asylum in Germany in 2010.
in traffic on Kargar Avenue in the city of Tehran
. She was accompanied by her music teacher and close friend, Hamid Panahi, and two others, who remain unidentified. The four were on their way to participate in the protests against the outcome of the 2009 Iranian presidential election. The car's air conditioner was not working well, so she stopped her car some distance from the main protests and got out on foot to escape the heat. She was standing and observing the sporadic protests in the area when she was shot in the chest.
As captured on amateur video, she collapsed to the ground and was tended to by a doctor, her music teacher, and others from the crowd. Someone in the crowd around her shouted, "She has been shot! Someone, come and take her!" The videos were accompanied by a message from a doctor, later identified as Dr. Arash Hejazi
, who said he had been present during the incident (but has since fled Iran out of fear of government reprisals):
Her last words were, "I'm burning, I'm burning!", according to Panahi. She died en route to Tehran's Shariati hospital. However, the civilian physician that tended to Neda in the video has stated that Neda died on the scene.
Hejazi, standing one metre away from her when she was shot, tried to stanch her wound with his hands. Hejazi said nearby members of the crowd pulled a man from his motorcycle while shouting: "We got him, we got him," disarmed him, obtained his identity card and identified him as a member of the Basij
militia (government paramilitary). The militiaman was shouting, "I didn't want to kill her." The protesters let him go, but they kept the alleged killer's identity card and took many photographs of him. A recent documentary on the shooting contained a previously unseen clip of demonstrators capturing the militiaman seconds after the shooting. Logically we therefore cannot deduce whether Neda was shot from the rooftop or from the street hence questioning the apparent witness accounts.
The videos spread across the internet virally
, quickly gaining the attention of international media and viewers. Discussions about the incident on Twitter
, using a hashtag of #neda, became one of the "'trending topics'" by the end of the day on June 20, 2009. The incident was not originally reported by the state-controlled Iranian media, but was instead first reported on by international media. The video has been shown on CNN
and other news networks.
There are three videos depicting her death. One shows her collapsing to the ground, apparently still conscious. The second shows her only after she appears to lose consciousness and begins to bleed heavily. The third video shows her just as she begins to bleed profusely.
In the first video, the cameraman approaches a group of people huddled together in front of a parked car at the side of the street. As he moves closer, she can be seen collapsing to the pavement with a large bloodstain at her feet. Two men, Hamid Panahi and Arash Hejazi, are seen trying to revive her. The elderly Panahi was initially assumed to be her father, but later confirmed to be her music teacher. As seconds pass, her eyes roll to one side and she appears to lose consciousness. Blood begins to pour from her nose and mouth, and screams are heard.
In the second video, the cameraman approaches her and the two men; the camera passes over them and centers on her face; her stare is blank and she is bleeding profusely from her nose and mouth. Loud screaming can be heard.
The man next to her can apparently be heard speaking in the first video, saying her name:
The videos were awarded the George Polk Award for Videography for 2009.
After being pronounced dead at Shariati hospital, Agha-Soltan was buried at the Behesht-e Zahra
cemetery in southern Tehran; she was denied a proper funeral by government authorities. The authorities had allegedly set aside empty graves for those killed during the protests. Her family agreed to the removal of her organs for transplanting
to medical patients. The Iranian government has issued a ban on collective prayers in mosques for Agha-Soltan in the aftermath of the incident. Soona Samsami, the executive director of the Women's Freedom Forum, who has been relaying information about the protests inside Iran to the international media, told the foreign press that Agha-Soltan's immediate family were threatened by authorities if they permitted a gathering to mourn her. Samsami stated, "They were threatened that if people wanted to gather there the family would be charged and punished."
Caspian Makan (Agha-Soltan's fiancé) told BBC: "Neda had said that even if she lost her life and got a bullet in her heart, she would carry on".
Time
and other news sources have speculated that due to the widespread attention given to Agha-Soltan's story by social media
networks and mainstream news organizations, she is already being hailed as a martyr
. There is also speculation that the Shi'ite cycle of mourning
on the third (June 23), seventh (June 27), and 40th (July 30) day after a person's death may give the protests sustained momentum, in similar fashion to the Iranian Revolution
, where each commemoration of a demonstrator's death sparked renewed protests, resulting in more deaths, feeding a cycle that eventually resulted in the overthrowing of Iran's monarchy
.
On June 22, Iranian presidential candidates Mehdi Karroubi
and Mir-Hossein Mousavi
, who are contesting the validity of the election of Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, called upon Iranian citizens to commemorate Agha-Soltan. Karroubi announced his appeal on Facebook, asking demonstrators to gather in the center of the Iranian capital at 4:00 pm local time. The chief of the Tehran Police announced that his department had no involvement in the fatal incident. Later that day, riot police armed with live ammunition and tear gas dispersed a crowd of between 200 and 1,000 protesters who had gathered in Tehran
's Haft-e Tir Square. The protests followed online calls for tribute to Agha-Soltan and others killed during the demonstrations. Grand Ayatollah Hossein-Ali Montazeri
, a senior Iranian cleric and vocal critic of Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, called for three days of public mourning for the death of Neda.
Caspian Makan, following Neda's death, was torture
d and escaped to Canada. He recently visited Israel
as a guest of Israel's Channel 2
. "I have come here out of the brotherhood of nations," he told Channel 2.
, where the Agha-Soltan family attended services. A leaflet posted on the mosque's door read, "There is no commemoration here for Neda Agha Soltan." Many in the crowd wore black. Some recited poems. After about ten minutes, 20 Basij paramilitary arrived on motorcycles and dispersed the attendees.
On June 24, The Guardian
reported the results of interviews of neighbours who said Agha-Soltan's family had been forced to vacate their apartment some days after her death. Reuters
reported that supporters of presidential candidate Mir-Hossein Mousavi
stated they would release thousands of balloons on Friday, June 26, 2009 with the message "Neda you will always remain in our hearts" imprinted on them.
On June 23, it was reported that, to prevent Agha-Soltan's family's home from becoming a place of pilgrimage, government authorities told the family to remove the black mourning banners from outside the home.
On Friday, July 31, 2009, 40th day anniversary of the killings of such youth as Neda Agha Soltan, Sohrab Aarabi
and Ashkan Sohrabi was held in Tehran where thousands of Iranians mourned for the loss of the victims. Reports also came of gatherings in the thousands in cities of Rasht
, Shiraz
and Mashad.
held a gathering in Tehran in front of the British embassy, demanding that Arash Hejazi
be returned to Iran (as witness or suspect). As they are assumed to be close to the government, it means the government condemns the crime and is pursuing it (their way). According to an Iranian official, announcing her as a martyr is possible. Iran's ambassador to Mexico
, Mohammad Hassan Ghadiri, suggested in an interview on June 25, 2009 that the CIA
could have been involved in Agha-Soltan's death. Ambassador Ghadiri questioned how the shooting was video taped so effectively, asserting that the incident occurred away from other demonstrations. He also stated that using a woman would be more effective in accomplishing the goals the CIA is purported to desire. Ambassador Ghadiri said "the bullet that was found in her head was not a bullet that you could find in Iran" (he thought she was shot in head). The account of Doctor Hejazi was that Agha-Soltan was shot in the chest from the front, as there was no exit wound, and the video evidence showing a wound to the chest. Hejazi is the man seen in the video placing his hands on Agha-Soltan's chest to staunch her bleeding (as described above under section Circumstances of death).
During his Friday sermon on June 26, the Supreme Leader
's appointed speaker Ayatollah Ahmad Khatami
said "evidence shows that [protesters] have done it themselves and have raised propaganda against the system." Eye witnesses at the scene of the shooting said Agha-Soltan was shot by a member of the pro-government Basij
militia. Some of the eye-witnesses say she was shot from the ground, some say from the rooftop.
Iran's police chief, brigadier general Ahmadi-Moghaddam told the press on June 30, 2009 that the Iranian police and Ministry of Intelligence filed an arrest warrant for Interpol
to arrest Dr. Arash Hejazi, an eyewitness of Neda's death, for poisoning the international atmosphere against the Iranian government and telling misinformation about Neda's death by giving his account of the incident to foreign news media.
Ezzatollah Zarghami
, the head of Islamic Republic of Iran Broadcasting
, told the press on July 4, 2009 that the videos of Neda's death were all made by BBC
and CNN
.
In November 2009, Iran's embassy in London sent a letter of protest to The Queen's College, Oxford
about the college establishing the Neda Agha-Soltan Graduate Scholarship
in Philosophy.
In December 2009, Iranian state television aired a report about Agha-Soltan's death, portraying it as a western plot. The program argued that Agha-Soltan simulated her death with accomplices, and that she was killed afterwards, having no knowledge of her partners' intentions.
Mr. Panahi was later forced by the government to change his story. The new version of events were retold by Panahi on state television.
for post-graduate philosophy students at The Queen's College, Oxford
, with preference given to students of Iran
ian citizenship or heritage. The college received offers from two anonymous donors to establish a scholarship, followed by many individual donations from members of the public and former students of Queen's. The college aims to raise £65,000 to establish the scholarship on a permanent basis. The first recipient of the scholarship is Arianne Shahvis, a philosophy student of Iranian descent, who described the award as "a great honour".
2009 Iranian election protests
Protests following the 2009 Iranian presidential election against the disputed victory of Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad and in support of opposition candidates Mir-Hossein Mousavi and Mehdi Karroubi occurred in major cities in Iran and around the world starting June 13, 2009...
. Her death was captured on video by bystanders and broadcast over the Internet and the video became a rallying point for the opposition. It was described as "probably the most widely witnessed death in human history".
Nedā (ندا) is a word used in Classic Persian and modern Persian
Persian language
Persian is an Iranian language within the Indo-Iranian branch of the Indo-European languages. It is primarily spoken in Iran, Afghanistan, Tajikistan and countries which historically came under Persian influence...
to mean “voice”, calling (sometimes understood as a “divine message”, but this is not the etymological sense of ندا), and she has been referred to as the "voice of Iran". Her death became iconic in the struggle of Iranian protesters against the disputed election of President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad.
Biography
Agha-Soltan was the middle child of a middle classMiddle class
The middle class is any class of people in the middle of a societal hierarchy. In Weberian socio-economic terms, the middle class is the broad group of people in contemporary society who fall socio-economically between the working class and upper class....
family of three children, whose family resided in a fourth floor flat on Meshkini Street in the Tehranpars
Tehranpars
Tehranpars or Tehran Pars is a planned city inside the Greater Tehran Area. It is considered a neighbourhood of Tehran City and lies in Tehran's eastern flank inside the area of the 4th and 8th municipalities of Tehran....
district of Tehran. Her father is a civil servant and her mother is a homemaker. She graduated from Islamic Azad University
Islamic Azad University
Islamic Azad University is a private chain of universities in Iran.Headquartered in Tehran, Iran, the Islamic Azad University was founded in 1982 and currently has an enrollment of 1.5 million students, making it the world's third largest...
, where she had studied Islamic theology as well as secular philosophies. She was divorced, and according to her mother, had difficulty finding work because of how employers perceived her.
Agha-Soltan was an aspiring, underground
Underground music
Underground music comprises a range of different musical genres that operate outside of mainstream culture. Such music can typically share common values, such as the valuing of sincerity and intimacy; an emphasis on freedom of creative expression; an appreciation of artistic creativity...
musician
Musician
A musician is an artist who plays a musical instrument. It may or may not be the person's profession. Musicians can be classified by their roles in performing music and writing music.Also....* A person who makes music a profession....
, who was studying her craft through private voice and music lessons. She had studied the violin and had an as-yet-undelivered piano on order at the time of her death. She worked for her family's travel agency Agha-Soltan enjoyed travelling, having saved up money to go on package tours with her friends to Dubai
Dubai
Dubai is a city and emirate in the United Arab Emirates . The emirate is located south of the Persian Gulf on the Arabian Peninsula and has the largest population with the second-largest land territory by area of all the emirates, after Abu Dhabi...
, Thailand
Thailand
Thailand , officially the Kingdom of Thailand , formerly known as Siam , is a country located at the centre of the Indochina peninsula and Southeast Asia. It is bordered to the north by Burma and Laos, to the east by Laos and Cambodia, to the south by the Gulf of Thailand and Malaysia, and to the...
and Turkey
Turkey
Turkey , known officially as the Republic of Turkey , is a Eurasian country located in Western Asia and in East Thrace in Southeastern Europe...
. She had studied Turkish
Turkish language
Turkish is a language spoken as a native language by over 83 million people worldwide, making it the most commonly spoken of the Turkic languages. Its speakers are located predominantly in Turkey and Northern Cyprus with smaller groups in Iraq, Greece, Bulgaria, the Republic of Macedonia, Kosovo,...
, hoping it would aid her as a guide for Iranians on foreign tours in Turkey. It was in Turkey, two months prior to her death, that she met her fiancé, 37-year-old Caspian Makan, who worked as a photojournalist in Tehran
Tehran
Tehran , sometimes spelled Teheran, is the capital of Iran and Tehran Province. With an estimated population of 8,429,807; it is also Iran's largest urban area and city, one of the largest cities in Western Asia, and is the world's 19th largest city.In the 20th century, Tehran was subject to...
.
Those who knew her maintain that Agha-Soltan had not previously been very political – she had not supported any particular candidate in the 2009 Iran elections – but that anger over the election results prompted her to join the protest. Her voice
Voice teacher
A voice teacher or singing teacher is a musical instructor who trains adults and children in the art of singing. This generally involves training in breath control and support, proper tone production, pitch control and musical intonation, proper formation of vowels and consonants as well as...
and music teacher, Hamid Panahi, who was accompanying Agha-Soltan during the protest and can be seen on the video trying to comfort the dying woman, told the media: "She couldn't stand the injustice of it." Panahi went on to state: "All she wanted was the proper vote of the people to be counted. She wanted to show with her presence that, 'I'm here, I also voted, and my vote wasn't counted', although her family has stated that she attempted to vote and didn't because no representatives of any other parties than the incumbent were present, "It was a very peaceful act of protest, without any violence."
Her name is often miscited as "Neda Soltani". Neda Soltani is a different woman, whose Facebook profile photo was mistakenly published in many articles about the incident. She tried in vain to remove her photo from the internet. Finally, Neda Soltani had to flee from Iran and was granted asylum in Germany in 2010.
Circumstances of her death
On June 20, 2009, at around 6:30 p.m., Neda Agha-Soltan was sitting in her Peugeot 206Peugeot 206
The Peugeot 206 is a supermini car, manufactured by the French automaker Peugeot from 1998 to 2010.Even though the 206 has finished production in most markets as of 2010, in Europe since 2009, it is available the 206+, with a back and especially a front design that resembles the Peugeot 207.-The...
in traffic on Kargar Avenue in the city of Tehran
Tehran
Tehran , sometimes spelled Teheran, is the capital of Iran and Tehran Province. With an estimated population of 8,429,807; it is also Iran's largest urban area and city, one of the largest cities in Western Asia, and is the world's 19th largest city.In the 20th century, Tehran was subject to...
. She was accompanied by her music teacher and close friend, Hamid Panahi, and two others, who remain unidentified. The four were on their way to participate in the protests against the outcome of the 2009 Iranian presidential election. The car's air conditioner was not working well, so she stopped her car some distance from the main protests and got out on foot to escape the heat. She was standing and observing the sporadic protests in the area when she was shot in the chest.
As captured on amateur video, she collapsed to the ground and was tended to by a doctor, her music teacher, and others from the crowd. Someone in the crowd around her shouted, "She has been shot! Someone, come and take her!" The videos were accompanied by a message from a doctor, later identified as Dr. Arash Hejazi
Arash Hejazi
Arash Hejazi , born 1971 in Tehran, Iran, is an Iranian novelist, fiction writer and translator of literary works from English and Portuguese into Persian. He is also an editor in Caravan Books Publishing House , and Book Fiesta Literary Magazine...
, who said he had been present during the incident (but has since fled Iran out of fear of government reprisals):
At 19:05 June 20th Place: Kargar Ave., at the corner crossing Khosravi St. and Salehi st. A young woman who was standing aside with her father [sic, later identified as her music teacher] watching the protests was shot by a Basij member hiding on the rooftop of a civilian house. He had clear shot at the girl and could not miss her. However, he aimed straight at her heart. I am a doctor, so I rushed to try to save her. But the impact of the gunshot was so fierce that the bullet had blasted inside the victim’s chest, and she died in less than two minutes. The protests were going on about one kilometre away in the main street and some of the protesting crowd were running from tear gas used among them, towards Salehi St. The film is shot by my friend who was standing beside me.
Her last words were, "I'm burning, I'm burning!", according to Panahi. She died en route to Tehran's Shariati hospital. However, the civilian physician that tended to Neda in the video has stated that Neda died on the scene.
Hejazi, standing one metre away from her when she was shot, tried to stanch her wound with his hands. Hejazi said nearby members of the crowd pulled a man from his motorcycle while shouting: "We got him, we got him," disarmed him, obtained his identity card and identified him as a member of the Basij
Basij
The Basij is a paramilitary volunteer militia established in 1979 by order of the Islamic Revolution's leader Ayatollah Khomeini. The force consists of young Iranians who have volunteered, often in exchange for official benefits...
militia (government paramilitary). The militiaman was shouting, "I didn't want to kill her." The protesters let him go, but they kept the alleged killer's identity card and took many photographs of him. A recent documentary on the shooting contained a previously unseen clip of demonstrators capturing the militiaman seconds after the shooting. Logically we therefore cannot deduce whether Neda was shot from the rooftop or from the street hence questioning the apparent witness accounts.
Videos
Viral video
A viral video is one that becomes popular through the process of Internet sharing, typically through video sharing websites, social media and email...
, quickly gaining the attention of international media and viewers. Discussions about the incident on Twitter
Twitter
Twitter is an online social networking and microblogging service that enables its users to send and read text-based posts of up to 140 characters, informally known as "tweets".Twitter was created in March 2006 by Jack Dorsey and launched that July...
, using a hashtag of #neda, became one of the "'trending topics'" by the end of the day on June 20, 2009. The incident was not originally reported by the state-controlled Iranian media, but was instead first reported on by international media. The video has been shown on CNN
CNN
Cable News Network is a U.S. cable news channel founded in 1980 by Ted Turner. Upon its launch, CNN was the first channel to provide 24-hour television news coverage, and the first all-news television channel in the United States...
and other news networks.
There are three videos depicting her death. One shows her collapsing to the ground, apparently still conscious. The second shows her only after she appears to lose consciousness and begins to bleed heavily. The third video shows her just as she begins to bleed profusely.
In the first video, the cameraman approaches a group of people huddled together in front of a parked car at the side of the street. As he moves closer, she can be seen collapsing to the pavement with a large bloodstain at her feet. Two men, Hamid Panahi and Arash Hejazi, are seen trying to revive her. The elderly Panahi was initially assumed to be her father, but later confirmed to be her music teacher. As seconds pass, her eyes roll to one side and she appears to lose consciousness. Blood begins to pour from her nose and mouth, and screams are heard.
In the second video, the cameraman approaches her and the two men; the camera passes over them and centers on her face; her stare is blank and she is bleeding profusely from her nose and mouth. Loud screaming can be heard.
The man next to her can apparently be heard speaking in the first video, saying her name:
Neda, don't be afraid. Neda, don't be afraid. [obscured by others yelling] Neda, stay with me. Neda stay with me!
The videos were awarded the George Polk Award for Videography for 2009.
Alleged killer
The man accused of killing Neda Soltan has been identified as Abbas Kargar Javid, a pro-government militiaman, after photographs of the Basiji’s ID cards appeared on the internet, according to The Times.Aftermath
Behesht-e Zahra
Behesht-e Zahra , is the largest cemetery in Iran. Located in the southern part of metropolitan Tehran, it is connected to the city by a metro line. The cemetery has been one of the inspirations for the popular webcomic, Zahra's Paradise.-History:...
cemetery in southern Tehran; she was denied a proper funeral by government authorities. The authorities had allegedly set aside empty graves for those killed during the protests. Her family agreed to the removal of her organs for transplanting
Organ transplant
Organ transplantation is the moving of an organ from one body to another or from a donor site on the patient's own body, for the purpose of replacing the recipient's damaged or absent organ. The emerging field of regenerative medicine is allowing scientists and engineers to create organs to be...
to medical patients. The Iranian government has issued a ban on collective prayers in mosques for Agha-Soltan in the aftermath of the incident. Soona Samsami, the executive director of the Women's Freedom Forum, who has been relaying information about the protests inside Iran to the international media, told the foreign press that Agha-Soltan's immediate family were threatened by authorities if they permitted a gathering to mourn her. Samsami stated, "They were threatened that if people wanted to gather there the family would be charged and punished."
Caspian Makan (Agha-Soltan's fiancé) told BBC: "Neda had said that even if she lost her life and got a bullet in her heart, she would carry on".
Time
Time (magazine)
Time is an American news magazine. A European edition is published from London. Time Europe covers the Middle East, Africa and, since 2003, Latin America. An Asian edition is based in Hong Kong...
and other news sources have speculated that due to the widespread attention given to Agha-Soltan's story by social media
Social media
The term Social Media refers to the use of web-based and mobile technologies to turn communication into an interactive dialogue. Andreas Kaplan and Michael Haenlein define social media as "a group of Internet-based applications that build on the ideological and technological foundations of Web 2.0,...
networks and mainstream news organizations, she is already being hailed as a martyr
Martyr
A martyr is somebody who suffers persecution and death for refusing to renounce, or accept, a belief or cause, usually religious.-Meaning:...
. There is also speculation that the Shi'ite cycle of mourning
Mourning
Mourning is, in the simplest sense, synonymous with grief over the death of someone. The word is also used to describe a cultural complex of behaviours in which the bereaved participate or are expected to participate...
on the third (June 23), seventh (June 27), and 40th (July 30) day after a person's death may give the protests sustained momentum, in similar fashion to the Iranian Revolution
Iranian Revolution
The Iranian Revolution refers to events involving the overthrow of Iran's monarchy under Shah Mohammad Reza Pahlavi and its replacement with an Islamic republic under Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini, the leader of the...
, where each commemoration of a demonstrator's death sparked renewed protests, resulting in more deaths, feeding a cycle that eventually resulted in the overthrowing of Iran's monarchy
Pahlavi dynasty
The Pahlavi dynasty consisted of two Iranian/Persian monarchs, father and son Reza Shah Pahlavi and Mohammad Reza Shah Pahlavi The Pahlavi dynasty consisted of two Iranian/Persian monarchs, father and son Reza Shah Pahlavi (reg. 1925–1941) and Mohammad Reza Shah Pahlavi The Pahlavi dynasty ...
.
On June 22, Iranian presidential candidates Mehdi Karroubi
Mehdi Karroubi
Mehdi Karroubi is an influential Iranian reformist politician, democracy activist, mojtahed, and chairman of the National Trust Party. He was Chairman of the parliament from 1989 to 1992 and 2000 to 2004, and a presidential candidate in the 2005 and 2009 presidential elections.He is a founding...
and Mir-Hossein Mousavi
Mir-Hossein Mousavi
Mir-Hossein Mousavi Khameneh is an Iranian reformist politician, artist and architect who served as the seventy-ninth and last Prime Minister of Iran from 1981 to 1989. He was a Reformist candidate for the 2009 presidential election and eventually the leader of the opposition in the post-election...
, who are contesting the validity of the election of Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, called upon Iranian citizens to commemorate Agha-Soltan. Karroubi announced his appeal on Facebook, asking demonstrators to gather in the center of the Iranian capital at 4:00 pm local time. The chief of the Tehran Police announced that his department had no involvement in the fatal incident. Later that day, riot police armed with live ammunition and tear gas dispersed a crowd of between 200 and 1,000 protesters who had gathered in Tehran
Tehran
Tehran , sometimes spelled Teheran, is the capital of Iran and Tehran Province. With an estimated population of 8,429,807; it is also Iran's largest urban area and city, one of the largest cities in Western Asia, and is the world's 19th largest city.In the 20th century, Tehran was subject to...
's Haft-e Tir Square. The protests followed online calls for tribute to Agha-Soltan and others killed during the demonstrations. Grand Ayatollah Hossein-Ali Montazeri
Grand Ayatollah Hossein-Ali Montazeri
Grand Ayatollah Hussein-Ali Montazeri Najafabadi was a prominent Iranian scholar, Islamic theologian, Shiite Islamic democracy advocate, writer and human rights activist. He was one of the leaders of the Iranian Revolution in 1979...
, a senior Iranian cleric and vocal critic of Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, called for three days of public mourning for the death of Neda.
Caspian Makan, following Neda's death, was torture
Torture
Torture is the act of inflicting severe pain as a means of punishment, revenge, forcing information or a confession, or simply as an act of cruelty. Throughout history, torture has often been used as a method of political re-education, interrogation, punishment, and coercion...
d and escaped to Canada. He recently visited Israel
Israel
The State of Israel is a parliamentary republic located in the Middle East, along the eastern shore of the Mediterranean Sea...
as a guest of Israel's Channel 2
Channel 2 (Israel)
Channel 2 is an Israeli commercial television channel.- History :In 1990, after 13 years of deliberations, the Knesset passed a law that paved the way for the establishment of commercial television in Israel. The goal was to enhance pluralism and create competition. Channel 2 began broadcasting on...
. "I have come here out of the brotherhood of nations," he told Channel 2.
Funeral
About 70 mourners gathered outside Niloufar mosque in Abbas AbadAbbas Abad
Abbās Ābād is a large north-central neighborhood of Tehran, Iran, designated within the Seventh Municipal District of the capital.-History:...
, where the Agha-Soltan family attended services. A leaflet posted on the mosque's door read, "There is no commemoration here for Neda Agha Soltan." Many in the crowd wore black. Some recited poems. After about ten minutes, 20 Basij paramilitary arrived on motorcycles and dispersed the attendees.
On June 24, The Guardian
The Guardian
The Guardian, formerly known as The Manchester Guardian , is a British national daily newspaper in the Berliner format...
reported the results of interviews of neighbours who said Agha-Soltan's family had been forced to vacate their apartment some days after her death. Reuters
Reuters
Reuters is a news agency headquartered in New York City. Until 2008 the Reuters news agency formed part of a British independent company, Reuters Group plc, which was also a provider of financial market data...
reported that supporters of presidential candidate Mir-Hossein Mousavi
Mir-Hossein Mousavi
Mir-Hossein Mousavi Khameneh is an Iranian reformist politician, artist and architect who served as the seventy-ninth and last Prime Minister of Iran from 1981 to 1989. He was a Reformist candidate for the 2009 presidential election and eventually the leader of the opposition in the post-election...
stated they would release thousands of balloons on Friday, June 26, 2009 with the message "Neda you will always remain in our hearts" imprinted on them.
On June 23, it was reported that, to prevent Agha-Soltan's family's home from becoming a place of pilgrimage, government authorities told the family to remove the black mourning banners from outside the home.
On Friday, July 31, 2009, 40th day anniversary of the killings of such youth as Neda Agha Soltan, Sohrab Aarabi
Sohrab Aarabi
Sohrab Aarabi was an Iranian pro-democracy student whose death became a symbol of protests during 2009 post election unrests in Iran.-Family and background:Sohrab was raised in a middle class Iranian family...
and Ashkan Sohrabi was held in Tehran where thousands of Iranians mourned for the loss of the victims. Reports also came of gatherings in the thousands in cities of Rasht
Rasht
Rasht is a city in and the capital of Gilan Province, Iran. At the 2006 census, its population was 551,161, in 159,983 families.Rasht is the largest city on Iran's Caspian Sea coast. It is a major trade center between Caucasia, Russia and Iran using the port of Bandar-e Anzali...
, Shiraz
Shiraz
Shiraz may refer to:* Shiraz, Iran, a city in Iran* Shiraz County, an administrative subdivision of Iran* Vosketap, Armenia, formerly called ShirazPeople:* Hovhannes Shiraz, Armenian poet* Ara Shiraz, Armenian sculptor...
and Mashad.
Desecration of her grave
On November 16, 2009, supporters of the Iranian regime desecrated her grave and removed her gravestone. Later, on December 31, 2009, supporters of the Iranian Government defaced the portrait on her grave by shooting at it multiple times.Iranian government reactions
The university branch of female members of BasijBasij
The Basij is a paramilitary volunteer militia established in 1979 by order of the Islamic Revolution's leader Ayatollah Khomeini. The force consists of young Iranians who have volunteered, often in exchange for official benefits...
held a gathering in Tehran in front of the British embassy, demanding that Arash Hejazi
Arash Hejazi
Arash Hejazi , born 1971 in Tehran, Iran, is an Iranian novelist, fiction writer and translator of literary works from English and Portuguese into Persian. He is also an editor in Caravan Books Publishing House , and Book Fiesta Literary Magazine...
be returned to Iran (as witness or suspect). As they are assumed to be close to the government, it means the government condemns the crime and is pursuing it (their way). According to an Iranian official, announcing her as a martyr is possible. Iran's ambassador to Mexico
Mexico
The United Mexican States , commonly known as Mexico , is a federal constitutional republic in North America. It is bordered on the north by the United States; on the south and west by the Pacific Ocean; on the southeast by Guatemala, Belize, and the Caribbean Sea; and on the east by the Gulf of...
, Mohammad Hassan Ghadiri, suggested in an interview on June 25, 2009 that the CIA
Central Intelligence Agency
The Central Intelligence Agency is a civilian intelligence agency of the United States government. It is an executive agency and reports directly to the Director of National Intelligence, responsible for providing national security intelligence assessment to senior United States policymakers...
could have been involved in Agha-Soltan's death. Ambassador Ghadiri questioned how the shooting was video taped so effectively, asserting that the incident occurred away from other demonstrations. He also stated that using a woman would be more effective in accomplishing the goals the CIA is purported to desire. Ambassador Ghadiri said "the bullet that was found in her head was not a bullet that you could find in Iran" (he thought she was shot in head). The account of Doctor Hejazi was that Agha-Soltan was shot in the chest from the front, as there was no exit wound, and the video evidence showing a wound to the chest. Hejazi is the man seen in the video placing his hands on Agha-Soltan's chest to staunch her bleeding (as described above under section Circumstances of death).
During his Friday sermon on June 26, the Supreme Leader
Ali Khamenei
Ayatollah Seyed Ali Hoseyni Khāmene’i is the Supreme Leader of Iran and the figurative head of the Muslim conservative establishment in Iran and Twelver Shi'a marja...
's appointed speaker Ayatollah Ahmad Khatami
Ahmad Khatami
Ayatollah Seyyed Ahmad Khatami is a senior Iranian Ayatollah, as well as a senior member of the Assembly of Experts. In December of 2005, Ali Khamenei appointed him as Tehran’s substitute Friday prayer leader.He was born in the town of Nīr, Northern Iran...
said "evidence shows that [protesters] have done it themselves and have raised propaganda against the system." Eye witnesses at the scene of the shooting said Agha-Soltan was shot by a member of the pro-government Basij
Basij
The Basij is a paramilitary volunteer militia established in 1979 by order of the Islamic Revolution's leader Ayatollah Khomeini. The force consists of young Iranians who have volunteered, often in exchange for official benefits...
militia. Some of the eye-witnesses say she was shot from the ground, some say from the rooftop.
Iran's police chief, brigadier general Ahmadi-Moghaddam told the press on June 30, 2009 that the Iranian police and Ministry of Intelligence filed an arrest warrant for Interpol
Interpol
Interpol, whose full name is the International Criminal Police Organization – INTERPOL, is an organization facilitating international police cooperation...
to arrest Dr. Arash Hejazi, an eyewitness of Neda's death, for poisoning the international atmosphere against the Iranian government and telling misinformation about Neda's death by giving his account of the incident to foreign news media.
Ezzatollah Zarghami
Ezzatollah Zarghami
Ezzatollah Zarghami has been the head of IRIB, the media corporation in charge of controlling Iranian national radio and television broadcasting, since 2004. His predecessor was Ali Larijani....
, the head of Islamic Republic of Iran Broadcasting
Islamic Republic of Iran Broadcasting
Islamic Republic of Iran Broadcaster, or IRIB, , formerly called the National Iranian Radio and Television until the Islamic revolution of 1979, is a giant Iranian corporation in control of radio and television which is among the largest media organizations in Asia and Pacific region, and a regular...
, told the press on July 4, 2009 that the videos of Neda's death were all made by BBC
BBC
The British Broadcasting Corporation is a British public service broadcaster. Its headquarters is at Broadcasting House in the City of Westminster, London. It is the largest broadcaster in the world, with about 23,000 staff...
and CNN
CNN
Cable News Network is a U.S. cable news channel founded in 1980 by Ted Turner. Upon its launch, CNN was the first channel to provide 24-hour television news coverage, and the first all-news television channel in the United States...
.
In November 2009, Iran's embassy in London sent a letter of protest to The Queen's College, Oxford
The Queen's College, Oxford
The Queen's College, founded 1341, is one of the constituent colleges of the University of Oxford in England. Queen's is centrally situated on the High Street, and is renowned for its 18th-century architecture...
about the college establishing the Neda Agha-Soltan Graduate Scholarship
Neda Agha-Soltan Graduate Scholarship
The Neda Agha-Soltan Graduate Scholarship is a scholarship for post-graduate philosophy students at The Queen's College, Oxford, with preference given to students of Iranian citizenship or heritage...
in Philosophy.
In December 2009, Iranian state television aired a report about Agha-Soltan's death, portraying it as a western plot. The program argued that Agha-Soltan simulated her death with accomplices, and that she was killed afterwards, having no knowledge of her partners' intentions.
Claims of forced confessions
According to The Times, quoted from Mr. Makan and Ms. Agha Soltan's parents, officials tried to get them to confess that it was opposition protestors that had killed Neda, and not government militiamen. They were given incentives such as declaring Neda to be a martyr and giving the family a pension if they complied. Mr. Makan and Neda's family refused the offer.Mr. Panahi was later forced by the government to change his story. The new version of events were retold by Panahi on state television.
Response to the Iranian government
In December 2009, her family accused the security forces of killing her. This was the strongest statement the family of Neda Agha-Soltan made since her death. This accusation followed the spread of an Iranian government-proposed theory blaming a "conspiracy of western governments" for the killing. "I openly declare that no one, apart from the government, killed Neda. Her killer can only be from the government," her father told the BBC's Persian service by telephone from Iran.Oxford Graduate Scholarship
The Neda Agha-Soltan Graduate Scholarship is a scholarshipScholarship
A scholarship is an award of financial aid for a student to further education. Scholarships are awarded on various criteria usually reflecting the values and purposes of the donor or founder of the award.-Types:...
for post-graduate philosophy students at The Queen's College, Oxford
The Queen's College, Oxford
The Queen's College, founded 1341, is one of the constituent colleges of the University of Oxford in England. Queen's is centrally situated on the High Street, and is renowned for its 18th-century architecture...
, with preference given to students of Iran
Iran
Iran , officially the Islamic Republic of Iran , is a country in Southern and Western Asia. The name "Iran" has been in use natively since the Sassanian era and came into use internationally in 1935, before which the country was known to the Western world as Persia...
ian citizenship or heritage. The college received offers from two anonymous donors to establish a scholarship, followed by many individual donations from members of the public and former students of Queen's. The college aims to raise £65,000 to establish the scholarship on a permanent basis. The first recipient of the scholarship is Arianne Shahvis, a philosophy student of Iranian descent, who described the award as "a great honour".
See also
- Sohrab AarabiSohrab AarabiSohrab Aarabi was an Iranian pro-democracy student whose death became a symbol of protests during 2009 post election unrests in Iran.-Family and background:Sohrab was raised in a middle class Iranian family...
- Taraneh MousaviTaraneh MousaviTaraneh Mousavi is said to be a young Iranian woman who reportedly died after being sexually abused while in custody after being arrested for protesting the 2009 election results....
- Death of Khaled Mohamed SaeedDeath of Khaled Mohamed SaeedDuring an interview with the opposition party, El-Ghad's, newspaper, Mosbah described, "They dragged him to the adjacent building and banged his head against an iron door, the steps of the staircase and walls of the building...Two doctors happened to be there and tried in vain to revive him but ...
- Death of Hamza Ali Al-KhateebDeath of Hamza Ali Al-KhateebHamza Ali Al-Khateeb was a 13-year-old Syrian boy who died while in the custody of the Syrian government in Daraa during the 2011 Syrian uprising. On April 29, 2011, he was detained during a protest...
External links
- Video of her death wins prestigious 2009 George Polk Award for Videography
- Caspian Makan: 'I cannot believe it yet. I still think I will see Neda again'; The Guardian, 15 November 2009
- Photos: Who Was Neda Agha-Soltan? – a photo essay by TIME
- Iran Bans Prayers for 'Angel of Freedom' Neda Agha Soltan; Damien McElroy, The Telegraph, 22 June 2009
- Family, Friends Mourn 'Neda'; Borzou Daragahi, Los Angeles Times, 23 June 2009
- For Neda: A 67min documentary film by the British film-maker Antony ThomasAntony ThomasAntony Thomas is an Emmy and BAFTA award-winning English documentary film maker, director and author who has made films for, amongst others, Channel 4, the BBC and HBO....
- public release on 14 June 2010. Film available in youtube in English, Persian and Arabic language. - Neda, an Opera by Nader Mashayekhi: Pathos without Kitsch