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Neda Agha-Soltan: Shot dead by sniper - the tragic face of Iran's uprising
Tuesday, 23 June 2009
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Joan of Arc she was not, nor the Unknown Protester who stopped the tanks in Tiananmen Square, because that young man, 20 years ago, chose his fate and his prominence, deliberately stepping out of the crowd into the tank's and the cameras' sights.
Not so Neda: the young Iranian woman whose quick, brutal death from a Basiji militia man's bullet during a demonstration on Saturday created the Iranian uprising's first figurehead chose nothing except to be there.
Having found the courage to come out on to the street, she may have quailed: video shot moments before her death show her and her companion looking on from the sidelines as demonstrators surge back and forth. Should they go back? Had they made a mistake coming? She was in jeans and headscarf, the uniform of the city's young women, aged 26 or 27, we understand, therefore under 30, like 60 per cent of Iran's population: a modern Iranian Everywoman. She worked at a travel agency, so she was connected with the great world every day.
This is vague because all journalists have been banished from these terrifying streets. Yet within hours of her death a thousand bloggers and twitterers had immortalised her, ducking and diving through the regime's increasingly demented efforts to isolate their country, transforming her from a blood-soaked corpse into a heart-rending symbol of the uprising.
The launch pad for Neda's posthumous glory was a bare minute of shaky film. She goes over backwards in the throng and the man with the mobile phone spots the movement and leaps towards it. The camera catches her splayed legs, the blood already oozing onto the street. Those near her crowd around to help but the cameraman moves beyond them and for a long moment focuses on her white face which is flat on the pavement, the eyes swivelling but the head deathly still.
Then suddenly the blood surges from nose and mouth and it's like a scene from a slaughter house, the people who have come to her aid scream, but it is somehow poetically appropriate that her companion chooses this moment to cry, "Don't be afraid, don't be afraid, Neda my dear, don't be afraid..." Because she's already dead, and there is indeed nothing more to fear. As one of the bloggers who eulogised her wrote, quoting the 13th century Persian poet Rumi: "When you leave me/ in the grave,/ don't say goodbye./ Remember a grave is/ only a curtain/ for the paradise behind..."
Rarely has the butchery of an innocent – the bullet came from a rooftop sniper – been captured with such cruel completeness; never has such a scene been sent so quickly around the world, despite everything the authorities could do to thwart it. The consequences, too, were almost instantaneous. Protesters vowed to rename the street where she died Neda Street. A protest in her name drew 1,000 people to Haft-e Tir Square in Tehran before police broke it up. Officials prevented her supporters holding a memorial service in a mosque yesterday. One blogger wrote of Neda as "my sister": "I'm here to tell you my sister had big dreams," she wrote. "My sister who died was a decent person ... and like me yearned for a day when her hair would be swept by the wind ... and she longed to hold her head up and announce, 'I'm Iranian'... my sister died because injustice has no end..."
Yesterday the BBC's Farsi service reported that Neda's full name was Neda Agha-Soltan, and that she had been stuck in traffic in her car with her music teacher when she decided to get out "because of the heat" – "just for a few minutes", said her fiancé, Caspian Makan "[and] that's when she was shot dead".
Too much information already. The myth is more glorious without it.
Source: Independent
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I agree with you Farah. Other women like Maura Drumm, Rosemary Nelson, Julie Duggan died for their beliefs here in " Ulster " without as much as a fuss from some posters on here. Wonder why that is? The Iranian girl's death was monstrous - but hopefully the western world will now stop riling up and propagating about Iran. The regime in Israel murdered 1500 women and kids last year in Gaza, but wait, they are the " good guys " aren't they? Short memories spring to mind here!
Posted by Patrick | 25.06.09, 17:01 GMT
A tragic loss, it is telling that the Iranian authorities have restricted the celebration of her life.
Something people in NI might want to consider is that many from across our community died in a similar manner to Neda for simply being in the wrong place at the wrong time.
Barbaric? Pointless? needless? wanton?
All those lives, for what? ideological dogna (both Loyalist and Republican). I notice Stephen and the other usual bigots have not posted.
Posted by M S | 23.06.09, 18:14 GMT
It was so sad seeing this young girl killed, I hope and pray that the protesters keep it up, we in America are standing behind this. The leaders of Iran are bad and they should have been voted out. No freedom in Iran it seems, only dictators, Keep up the fight the world is watching.
Posted by LEE | 23.06.09, 15:00 GMT
Shame on the Iranian goverment!!!! Now they have the blood of the innocent on their hands. The Iranian people should show there support for Neda's family and march (Peacefully) on the day of her funeral, without fear of the goverment. Ahmadinejad and Ayatollah Ali Khamenei are soley responsible for her death and they will be held accountable in gods eyes. I hope they never get in to paradise for tthis act of cowardness.
Posted by Neil | 23.06.09, 14:45 GMT
How ironic, Neda has become the symbol of Iranian resistance against one of the most brutal regimes in existance. On TV and in the news Neda is often translated as "sound" or "voice" which neither is accurate. The correct translation of "neda" is "a call" or a "calling (for something positive to take place)".
But, Neda's story is nothing new. The Islamic Regime of Iran has been committing injustice against Iranians and also others including Americans for the past 30 years.
Posted by MMP062058 | 23.06.09, 14:33 GMT
I think that it is the best democratic exercise for future revolution. Our people understand and believe can shake the base of rejim . About NEDA , all of the world cry for her.
I hope that one of the street in Tehran named NEDA Agha Soltan in near future.
Posted by Ahmad | 23.06.09, 13:46 GMT
Good article. BT should have more of this sort of thing on their front page instead of rubbish about fake beggars, jade goody and kickboxing donkeys.
Posted by Mike Carvel | 23.06.09, 13:32 GMT
I don't think it's "too much information" That she was simply there in a car, got out because of the heat and was suddenly swept up in the protest makes the story of Nada much more touchable, makes it a reachable place where anyone could be.
Posted by Francella | 23.06.09, 10:56 GMT
Very, very sad. Myth or not, the Iranian government has to answer for this. Not to me or people in the West, but it's own people. I hope they get the change they want.
RIP Neda.
Absolute power corrupts absolutely.
Posted by The Real Liam | 23.06.09, 10:04 GMT
Farah, although this is a tragic tale of wasted life it said on the news she wasnt protesting or fighting for democracy. She was a passanger that gor caught up in a traffic jam and hse got out briefly to get some fresh air when she was shot.
Posted by soarer | 23.06.09, 07:48 GMT
Neda, is the voice of every women in the world that fights for her liberty and equality.
She is the immortalized symbol of every women in Iran who fights for Democracy and freedom.
She will be for ever in every womans heart and mind
Posted by farah | 23.06.09, 07:13 GMT