Grave of Neda Soltan Desecrated by Supporters of Iranian Regime
TIMES ONLINE: Supporters of Iran’s regime have desecrated the grave of Neda Soltan, the student who became a symbol of the opposition after she was shot dead during an anti-goverment demonstration on June 20.

The incident was confirmed by Ms Soltan’s fiancé, Caspian Makan, who fled from Iran after being released on bail following 65 days in prison. A recording of Ms Soltan’s mother weeping and cursing those responsible has been posted on the internet.

Mr Makan, 38, also disclosed that the regime tried to force him and Ms Soltan’s parents to say that she was killed by the opposition, not by a government militiaman on a motorbike as eyewitnesses have claimed. A documentary to be shown on BBC Two next week contains an unseen clip of demonstrators catching the militiaman seconds after the shooting.

Mr Makan, who is in hiding said: “The breaking of Neda’s gravestone broke the hearts of millions of freedom-loving people around the world. The repressors, believing they can stifle the cries for freedom, have even attacked, beaten, threatened and insulted Neda’s parents. This is while the Islamic Republic of Iran denies Neda’s murder.” >>> Martin Fletcher | Monday, November 16, 2009

Exclusive: Boyfriend Speaks of His Love for Neda Agha Soltan, Murdered Iranian Protester
THE OBSERVER: Neda was prepared 'to take a bullet in the heart' in fight against President Ahmadinejad

Neda Agha Soltan, the young Iranian woman whose face became the international symbol of protest against Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, told her fiancé she was prepared to "take a bullet in the heart" in the fight against the president's regime.

The revelation comes as her boyfriend speaks out for the first time after being imprisoned following Neda's death last June, when she was shot by Iranian police at a demonstration in Tehran. Caspian Makan, a photographer, spent two months in prison for criticising the authorities after her death. In a moving interview, he told the Observer that far from being a bystander caught up in the demonstrations, she was committed to the overthrow of Ahmadinejad. As a result of her high-profile presence at the protests, he believes she was targeted by the regime loyalists who killed her.

Makan has fled Iran and given two in-depth interviews. His meeting with director Angus Macqueen, which is featured in today's Observer Review, will appear in a BBC film about Neda. In both interviews she emerges as a markedly different figure to the young woman depicted at the time of her death. Her fiancé describes her as politically active and assertive, convinced she was fighting for "democracy and freedom" for Iranians. Neda joined the first wave of protests. After the election results were announced, she headed to the Interior Ministry in central Tehran – a focal point for the emerging movement supporting Ahamdinejad's election rival, Mir Hossein Mousavi. Makan remembers telling her that the scenes she described to him would quickly lead to a violent response from the regime.

She said: "No, they will continue because the people are too many and the scale too widespread… Everyone is responsible for reaching democracy," Makan recalls her as saying. "If I get shot in the heart or arrested, it's not important because we are all responsible for our future." >>> Iason Athanasiadis | Sunday, November 15, 2009

Caspian Makan: 'I Cannot Believe It Yet. I Still Think I Will See Neda Again'
THE OBSERVER: Neda Agha Soltan, killed on camera by a sniper's bullet, became the symbol of opposition to Iranian President Ahmadinejad this summer. Her boyfriend, Caspian Makan, who has just fled the country, talks to Arash Sahami and Angus Macqueen about their romance, his imprisonment after her death and his terrifying escape

A demonstrator holds a photo of dead Iranian student Neda Agha-Soltan during a protest in New York. Photo: The Observer
Caspian Makan has been run over by the blind, careering juggernaut of history. Just five months ago his girlfriend was killed on the streets of Tehran, one of some 80 deaths reliably reported during the tumultuous demonstrations that followed the disputed presidential elections. Most victims' relatives and friends have grieved in private – but Neda Agha Soltan, Caspian's girlfriend, died live on phone camera, an almost unbearable 90-second sequence that turned her into an icon. Uploaded on to the internet, within hours her face became the face of protest.

But symbols destroy lives. In the days and weeks that followed, Caspian has lost not only the woman he was planning to marry, but also his country, his family, his friends and his career. Anyone and everyone who had anything to do with Neda's death are now toxic to the Iranian government. Members of her family have been bullied, threatened and even detained. The doctor who is caught on camera trying to save her life is now exiled in Britain. The music teacher who was with her when she died has been rolled out on Iranian television, patently required to deny what he saw: that Neda was shot by a member of the religious militia.

And Caspian disappeared. In the days after her killing, he spoke out on foreign satellite stations and then vanished. Finally it was confirmed he was in the notorious Evin Prison in Tehran – the frightening symbol of the Shah's oppressive regime smoothly transferred into the hands of the Islamic Republic's secret police. He was held for more than two months, some of that time in solitary confinement. In September he was released on bail pending trial – perhaps being prepared for one of the extraordinary show trials that have been broadcast on Iranian TV over the past months, in which leading supporters of the opposition have been obliged to recant their actions. Urged on by family and friends, Caspian decided he had to escape. >>> The Observer | Sunday, November 15, 2009

'An Iranian Martyr', directed by Monica Garnsey, will be broadcast on BBC2 on Tuesday, 24 November, at 9pm.

Caspian Makan, Neda’s Fiancé, Tells of Neda’s Last Moments

Iran Elections: 'Boyfriend' of 'Angel of Freedom' Urged Her Not to Attend Protests
THE TELEGRAPH: A man identifying himself as the boyfriend of the 'Angel of Freedom' whose grisly death in Iran's post-election protests was captured on video and posted on YouTube has said that she only wanted democracy and freedom for the people of Iran.

Neda Agha Soltan. Photo: The Telegraph
In the video, Neda Agha Soltan, is lying on the ground as blood appears to flow from her mouth and nose. Her apparent last moments spread around the world on YouTube, Facebook, blogs and Twitter, turning her into an icon in the clash between Iran's cleric-led government and protesters.

"She only ever said that she wanted one thing, she wanted democracy and freedom for the people of Iran," Caspian Makan said.

Makan, a 37-year-old photojournalist in Tehran, said he met the 27-year-old music student several months ago on a trip outside the country. Foreign media are banned from covering the demonstrations and the authenticity of the video cannot be verified.

Makan provided photographs of himself with a woman he identified as Soltan and also had her as a friend on his Facebook page and said he had intended to marry her. "I still feel her, I still talk to her," he said.

Makan said that they had argued in the days before her death about her decision to attend the protests, which were part of the self-described "green wave" movement that claims hardline President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad stole his June 12 re-election.

He said he had asked her not to go out for fear she would be arrested or shot. "I tried to dissuade her from going out in the streets because I'd seen in my work as a journalist that, unfortunately, there are a lot of merciless behaviours," Makan said. >>> | Tuesday, June 23, 2009

THE TELEGRAPH: Iran Elections: Video of 'Angel of Freedom's' Death Will Haunt the Iranian Regime

Neda Agha Soltan’s importance is that her death has vividly demonstrated how far the Iranian regime stands in violation of its own values, writes Damien McElroy.

The video of a woman dying in the streets of Tehran is a historic turning point that will haunt the Iranian regime for as long as it remains unreconstructed.

That governments should not turn guns on its own people is a universal truth of powerful force. Twenty years on from the great convulsion against Communism in 1989, the world is shaped by that principle. Those states that did not, like Poland, have been transformed into mostly free democracies. Those that did, like China, have for all the gloss, merely postponed a process of historic reckoning.

What doubles the impact of the image for Iran is the hold that martyrdom - death for a cause - has exerted on the national imagination. The blood that defines the seconds of mobile phone footage that shows Neda Agha Soltan losing her life is central to the character of the Iranian nation. >>> Damien McElroy | Tuesday, June 23, 2009

TIMES ONLINE: Iranian Authorities Scramble to Negate Neda Soltan 'Martyrdom'

The Iranian authorities have ordered the family of a student shot dead in Tehran to take down mourning posters as they struggle to stop her becoming the rallying point for protests against the presidential election.

Neda Salehi Agha Soltan, 26, was killed as she watched a pro-democracy protest, and mobile phone footage of her last moments have become a worldwide symbol of Iran's turmoil.

The authorities had already banned a public funeral or wake and have prevented gatherings in her name while the state-controlled media has not mentioned Miss Soltan's death.

Today it was reported that they had also told her family to take down the black mourning banners outside their home in the Tehran suburbs to prevent it becoming a place of pilgrimage. They were also told they could not hold a memorial service at a mosque.

Nevertheless posters of Miss Soltan's face have started to appear all over Tehran.

The attempted crackdown came as friends present as Miss Soltan died came forward to detail what happened.

Hamid Panahi, her friend and music teacher, told the Los Angeles Times how Miss Soltan was shot as they and two others were making their way to a demonstration in Freedom Square in central Tehran. Their car became stuck in traffic on Karegar Street and they got out for some air.

Mr Panahi said that he heard a distant crack and saw Miss Soltan instantly collapse to the ground.

"We were stuck in traffic and we got out and stood to watch and, without her throwing a rock or anything, they shot her," he said. "It was just one bullet."

He later heard other witnesses claiming that the gunman was not a police officer but one of a group of plainclothes officials or Basiji militia.

He recalled watching in horror as blood came out of her chest and then began to bubble from her nose and mouth - footage that bystanders captured on their mobile phones and posted on the internet, where she has become a global phenomenon.
Mr Panahi said that Neda's last words before she slipped into unconsciousness were: "I'm burning! I'm burning!" >>> Jenny Booth | Tuesday, June 23, 2009

CNN: Fighting Tears, Shah's Son Calls Crisis a 'Moment of Truth'

WASHINGTON -- The son of the former shah of Iran called Monday for solidarity against Iran's Islamic regime, warning that the democratic movement born out of the election crisis might not succeed without international support.

"The moment of truth has arrived," Reza Shah Pahlavi said at Washington's National Press Club. "The people of Iran need to know who stands with them."

Pahlavi has lived in exile since 1979, when his father, Mohammad Reza Shah Pahlavi, was overthrown during the Islamic Revolution. Under the shah's regime, Iran saw nationalization of its oil and a strong movement toward modernization. Still, his secular programs and recognition of Israel cost him the support of the country's Shiite clergy, sparking clashes with the religious right and others who resented his pro-West views.

The son now lives in the United States with his family, where he spends much of his time talking about the Islamic regime in Iran.

During his remarks, he broke into tears when he spoke of "bullets piercing our beloved Neda," a woman killed Saturday by Iranian police at a protest in Tehran, whose death has become a rallying cry among demonstrators in Iran.

The Iranian regime, he said, was a "sinking Titanic" that might not survive the demands for democracy and human rights reverberating through the country.

Citing anecdotes from people inside the Iranian establishment, Pahlavi said he had heard that security forces have begun to distance themselves from the regime.

"It has already started," he said, citing reports that members of the security forces have gone home after their shifts ended and changed into plain clothes to join the protesters.

"Many, many elements within the security forces, within the Revolutionary Guard, are showing discontent," Pahlavi said. "There is an amazing reflection that is happening. ... This is a movement that has blown out of proportion." >>> By Elise Labott, CNN State Department Producer | Monday, June 22, 2009