Bloody video images turn woman (26) into martyr for freedom
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Tuesday June 23 2009
HER name was Neda Salehi Agha Soltan and she was a philosophy student. But the manner of her death has turned her into an instant, global symbol of the Iranian regime's brutality.
This innocent woman aged just 26 was shot in the chest during running battles between opposition protesters and Iranian security forces in Tehran on Saturday.
Since then, a grainy, 40-second video showing her final moments, blood streaming from her nose and mouth as a man implores her not to die, has ricocheted around the world on YouTube and other web sites.
Ms Soltan, whose first name means 'voice', has become a martyr for freedom, Iran's equivalent of the student who defied China's tanks in Tiananmen Square. Pictures of the "Angel of Iran" are being held aloft at demonstrations outside Iranian embassies around the world. Tribute sites have been set up on Facebook, and Twitter has been inundated with heart-rending messages.
Regime
Iran's state-controlled media has not mentioned Ms Soltan's death, but she is becoming a potent icon for the opposition inside the Islamic republic too.
The regime blocked a wake for her in Niloufar mosque in central Tehran yesterday lest it become a focal point for another massive demonstration. It also halted a planned vigil for her in Haft-e Tir Square.
It ensured that Ms Soltan, like other victims of the violence, was buried quickly and privately, surrounded by heavy security, in a cemetery in southern Tehran. "As things stand we are not allowed to hold any gatherings to remember Neda," her fiance, Caspian Makan, told BBC Persian TV.
Her poster has begun to appear on walls around the capital. There is even talk of trying to rename the street where she died.
The authenticity of the video, and the source of the bullet, cannot be verified independently but that hardly matters any more because millions of Iranians and hundreds of millions of others around the world firmly believe the story to be true.
The bloody images could have a big impact on public opinion in Iran, where the idea of martyrdom resonates deeply among a population raised on stories of Shia Islam, a faith founded on the idea of self-sacrifice in the cause of justice.
"This is an image that will be burnt into the Iranian psyche," one Iranian analyst said last night. "It will haunt the regime forever." (© The Times, London)
- Martin Fletcher
