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.

One Year On Iranian Opposition Pays Tribute to Neda Agha Soltan
Mobile telephone footage of Neda Soltan's death was flashed around the world. Photo: The Times
THE TIMES: Tomorrow will mark exactly one year since Neda Agha Soltan ignored the pleas of her anxious mother and joined a million other Iranians protesting against Mahmoud Ahmadinejad’s theft of the presidential election eight days earlier. She had no idea that she would win global support at the cost of her life.

The pretty young student was shot by a government militiaman. She collapsed on a Tehran pavement, eyes wide open, blood spewing from her mouth, those around beseeching her not to die. Mobile telephone footage of her death was posted on the internet and flashed around the world.

Ms Soltan, 26, instantly became a global symbol of the opposition’s courage and the regime’s brutality. Her name was invoked by President Obama and other world leaders, while her portrait appeared on T-shirts and placards at demonstrations outside Iranian embassies. She inspired songs, poems and films; her fame a measure of the damage she caused to a regime that purports to champion Islamic values but butchers those who oppose it. The other is the extent of its efforts to suppress Ms Soltan’s story; redoubled in the run-up to tomorrow’s anniversary.

The regime has repeatedly sought to jam satellite broadcasts by Voice of America’s Persian News Network of a new HBO film about Ms Soltan’s life featuring interviews with her family.

When it failed, it simply switched off the power in whole areas of Tehran, according to Antony Thomas, the British director of For Neda, which had its first London screening on Thursday night.

In Iranian terms, the film is downright subversive. Ms Soltan’s parents, sister and brother talk, sometimes tearfully, of a vivacious, free-spirited young woman who was not political, but hated the draconian restrictions placed on her sex and was so appalled by the election rigging that she felt compelled to resist. Read on and comment >>> Martin Fletcher | Friday, June 18, 2010

For Neda: For Neda reveals the true, sad story of Neda Agha-Soltan


For Neda: در فارسی


For Neda: في اللغة العربية


Related here

Iranian Fugitive: Identity Mix-up with Shot Neda Wrecked My Life

THE OBSERVER: Neda Soltani, a lecturer whose photo wrongly became symbol of protest, tells how regime threatened her life after confusing her with shot protester Neda Agha Soltan

Her face adorned a thousand placards and posters, an emblem of the failed Iranian uprising. The photograph of Neda Agha Soltan, who was shot dead on a Tehran street by a government sniper during the anti-regime demonstrations in 2009, was used in television broadcasts, web pages and newspapers all around the world. Unfortunately, it wasn't her.

As 26-year-old Neda bled to death on the pavement, her shocked eyes stared into an onlooker's mobile phone video camera and the terrible images were uploaded to international websites. It made her a martyr to those inside and outside Iran protesting at the flawed election of President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad.

Scrambling to cover the story and looking to find a photograph of the dead woman in life, journalists who had been banned at the time from entering Iran lifted a photograph of a woman called Neda Soltani from her Facebook page and published it – and the life of the 32-year-old, middle-class university English lecturer changed for ever.

"It destroyed my life," said Soltani, who has now written a book called My Stolen Face and still has to endure her image appearing as if she were the murdered Neda Soltan. » | Tracy McVeigh | Sunday, October 14, 2012

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

Remembering Neda

Neda Agha-Soltani
With many thanks to the Toronto Star on Pinterest for this photo of Neda, a very courageous Iranian young lady.
’ FOR NEDA reveals the true story of Neda Agha-Soltan, who became another tragic casualty of Iran's violent crackdown on post-election protests on June 20, 2009. Unlike many unknown victims, however, she instantly became an international symbol of the struggle.
This documentary cannot be embedded because it is age-restricted; it must therefore be viewed on YouTube itself.

I remember Neda’s tragic death. It moved the world. Here is a link to the documentary. Be aware: It is not for the faint-hearted. But in my opinion, all those who can watch it, should watch it. It will make us all aware of the needless suffering in Iran.

Furthermore, I am posting this today because Iranian women are currently still suffering so much because of the brutality of the Mullahs and the authorities in that country.

Personally, I think it would be so much better for Iranians if the Peacock Throne were restored, if Iran had a Shah and Shahbanu again. It would bring so much dignity and stability to the country. A Shah ruling as a constitutional monarch? What could be better for Iran in these troubled times? © Mark Alexander

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

Iran Bans Prayers for 'Angel of Freedom' Neda Agha Soltan
THE TELEGRAPH: Iran's regime has issued a ban on memorials for a young woman whose death has become the focal point of protests against the clerical regime.


Neda Agha Soltan, 27, was dubbed the Angel of Freedom after a video which appeared to show her being shot by a government sniper was posted on the internet.

Graphic scenes show Neda – her name means "the call" – walking with her father among demonstrators, then separately when she was shot as well as attempts to save her life.

Online posters of the woman covered in blood quickly emerged, included one modelled on a prominent image of Barack Obama during the last US presidential campaign.

Some online posts speculated the image would rank alongside that of the unnamed man standing in front of a tank in Beijing's Tiananmen Square in 1989 and the summary execution of a Vietnamese Communist prisoner by Colonel Nugyen Ngoc Loan in 1968.

Footage was posted on YouTube, Twitter and Facebook and was viewed by tens of thousands. Messages of sympathy and outrage flooded the internet following the posting of the videos.

The Iranian authorities have now sent out a circular to mosques banning collective prayers for the woman. [Source: The Telegraph] | Monday, June 22, 2009

Iran Doctor Tells of Neda's Death
"We heard a gunshot. Neda was standing a metre away from me... I saw blood gushing out of her chest"
BBC: The doctor who tried to save an Iranian protester as she bled to death on a street in Tehran has told the BBC of her final moments.

Dr Arash Hejazi, who is studying at a university in the south of England, said he ran to Neda Agha-Soltan's aid after seeing she had been shot in the chest.

Despite his attempts to stop the bleeding she died in less than a minute, he said.

Video of Ms Soltan's death was posted on the internet and images of her have become a rallying point for Iranian opposition supporters around the world.

Dr Hejazi also told how passers-by then seized an armed Basij militia volunteer who appeared to admit shooting Ms Soltan.

Dr Hejazi said he had not slept for three nights following the incident, but he wanted to speak out so that her death was not in vain.

He doubted that he would be able to return to Iran after talking openly about Ms Soltan's killing. >>> | Thursday, June 25, 2009

Anonymous Video of Neda Aghan-Soltan's Death Wins Polk Award
THE GUARDIAN: New 'videography' category reflects rising professional use of user-created content

The George Polk Awards, one of the most important annual journalism prizes, has honoured the anonymous video of the death of Neda Aghan-Soltan during the 2009 Iranian election protests.

The new videography category reflects the increasing importance of user contributions to journalism in an era where cameras are commonplace. It is the first time in the 61-year history of the awards that a work produced anonymously has won.

"This award celebrates the fact that, in today's world, a brave bystander with a cellphone camera can use video-sharing and social networking sites to deliver news," said the New York Times' John Darnton, the curator of the Polk Awards. >>> Mercedes Bunz | Tuesday, February 16, 2010

United for Neda

Iran: Campaign Launched to Annoint Neda Agha-Soltan Time Magazine's Person of the Year 2009
THE LOS ANGELES TIMES: The flickering images of Neda Agha-Soltan’s last moments in a Tehran street on June 20 before she died from gunshot wounds gripped the world, galvanized the nation and made the 26-year-old music student the face of Iran’s recent protest movement.

Five months after an unknown assailant took her life at a demonstration in the Iranian capital staged by pro-reform activists, supporters across the world have spearheaded a grassroots initiative in a move to immortalize her.

Through the use of various social media outlets such as Facebook and Twitter, they are pushing to make Agha-Soltan Time magazine’s Person of the Year 2009.

Each year, the U.S.-based magazine grants the title to one or several persons who "most affected the news and our lives, for good or ill, and embodied what was important about the year."

Administrators of the more than 1,000-member strong Facebook group "Nominate Neda Agha-Soltan as the Time Woman of the Year" say she deserves the title because she has become “the symbol of the recent Iranian movement towards democracy and freedom" through her tragic death that shocked the world.

Members of the group are encouraged to send letters to Time magazine to vote for Agha-Soltan and spread the word to their friends.

The campaign is also triggering traffic on the micro-blogging service Twitter, where supporters of the initiative are "tweeting" their thoughts on why Time magazine should choose Agha-Soltan as its Person of the Year and calling on fellow Twitterers to give her their vote. >>> Babylon & Beyond | Thursday, November 19, 2009

Iran Security Forces Retreat as Huge Numbers of Mourners Gather at Cemetery
LOS ANGELES TIMES: As many as tens of thousands of protesters meet at the grave of Neda Agha-Soltan, whose shooting death was videotaped. Meanwhile, the first group of protesters arrested in the unrest heads to trial.

Reporting from Tehran and Beirut -- Thousands and possibly tens of thousands of mourners, many of them black-clad young women carrying roses, overwhelmed security forces today at Tehran's largest cemetery to gather around the grave of Neda Agha-Soltan, the young woman whose videotaped shooting at a June 20 demonstration stunned the world.

Amateur video apparently taken at Behesht Zahra cemetery and quickly uploaded to the Internet shows a sea of mourners moving through the cemetery chanting slogans.

"Death to the dictator," chanted those in one long procession, kicking up a storm of dust as they walked. "Neda is not dead. This government is dead."

Afterward, the crowds began to gather in front of central Tehran's Grand Mossala mosque, defying authorities who had prohibited the use of the site. Protesters chanted slogans as they rode the subway to the venue, setting the stage for more clashes as dusk approached.

Uniformed security forces initially clashed violently today with some of the mourners, supporters and leaders of the opposition, who were there to protest and grieve for those killed in recent unrest. Unsuccessful presidential candidates Mir-Hossein Mousavi and Mehdi Karroubi attempted to attend the graveside ceremony marking the religiously significant 40th day since the death of Agha-Soltan and others killed in the fighting.

"Oh, Hossein! Mir-Hossein," the mourners chanted in support of him. >>> Borzou Daragahi and Ramin Mostaghim | Thursday, July 30, 2009

Iranian Police Beat Up Mourners at Ceremony for Neda Soltan
TIMES ONLINE: Baton-wielding Iranian riot police arrested mourners and drove away opposition leaders as they tried to stage a ceremony in a Tehran cemetery to commemorate protesters killed in anti-government demonstrations last month.

Ignoring Islamic customs and traditions, the security forces beat and detained many of the 2000-odd people who came to mark the end of the 40-day mourning period at the grave of Neda Soltan, the young student who has become an icon of the opposition movement.

When Mir Hossein Mousavi, the movement’s leader, arrived at the Behesht-e Zahra cemetery on the baking plains south of the capital, he was mobbed by supporters who chanted “Mousavi we support you” and “Death to the Dictator”.

Foreign journalists are banned from Iran, but witnesses said the former prime minister managed to leave his car and walk up to Ms Soltan’s grave before the police stopped him. “Mousavi was however not allowed to recite the Koran verses said at such occasions and he was immediately surrounded by anti-riot police who led him to his car,” said one.

The police then had to push back a large crowd gathered around Mr Mousavi’s vehicle so he could leave.

Later Mehdi Karoubi, another defeated presidential candidate, arrived. Witnesses said he was swiftly surrounded by police. Mourners pelted the security forces with stones and shouted “Today is a mourning day.” >>> Martin Fletcher | Thursday, July 30, 2009

Listen to BBC audio: A mother’s anguish >>> | Wednesday, July 29, 2009

’United for Neda’

Oxford’s Tribute to Student Neda Soltan Denounced by Iran
TIMES ONLINE: Iran’s regime denounced the University of Oxford yesterday because one of its colleges has established a scholarship honouring Neda Soltan, the Iranian student killed during street protests in Tehran over the alleged rigging of the presidential election.

In a letter sent from the Iranian Embassy, the regime claimed that Miss Soltan’s death in June was staged by its enemies. It accused the university of joining a “politically motivated” campaign that would “undermine your scientific credibility” and “make Oxford at odd [sic] with the rest of the world’s academic institutions”.

In response, the university emphasised that the decision to award the scholarship was entirely a matter for the college, Queen’s. Professor Paul Madden, Provost of Queen’s, said that the scholarship would help impoverished Iranians to study at Oxford.

Miss Soltan, a philosophy student, was 26 when she was shot in the chest during a demonstration over President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad’s disputed re-election that engulfed Tehran on June 20. Video footage of blood pouring from her mouth as she lay dying sped around the world. Miss Soltan became an emblem of the Iranian people’s struggle for freedom, and her death a symbol of the regime’s brutality. >>> Martin Fletcher and Greg Hurst | Wednesday, November 11, 2009

Related articles >>>

United for Neda

Persecution of Doctor Who Treated Neda Soltan
TIMES ONLINE: As Arash Hejazi sat in an Oxford coffee bar, members of Iran’s Basij militia in Tehran were demanding his extradition outside the British Embassy.

The previous day the Iranian regime had sent an Oxford college a letter of protest over a scholarship given to honour Neda Soltan, the student killed during a huge demonstration against electoral fraud in Tehran in June. The letter also suggested that Dr Hejazi was responsible for her murder.

For Dr Hejazi, who had tried to save Ms Soltan’s life, that was the final straw. He decided that it was time to speak out. It was time to reveal how the regime has sought to vilify, punish and silence him ever since he told the world, immediately after Ms Soltan’s death, how she had been shot by a government henchman for peacefully protesting against President Ahmadinejad’s disputed re-election.

Dr Hejazi is now living in exile in Britain, jobless and fearful, while back in Tehran the regime blackens his name and hounds his friends, family and colleagues. “I told the truth. I just did what I had to do, but there were dire consequences,” he told The Times. In short, a quirk of fate — that he happened to be standing near Ms Soltan the moment that she was shot — has turned his entire life upside down and made him “another victim of tyranny”. Iranian doctor Arash Hejazi who tried to rescue Neda Soltan tells of wounds that never heal >>> Martin Fletcher | Friday, November 13, 2009

'United for Neda' Is Artists' Song for Iranian People

The Story: Spurred by the continuing political unrest in Iran, more than two dozen Iranian expatriate superstars are uniting to spread a musical message of non-violent resistance.

The entertainers, poets, thinkers and actors are harmonizing on the song "United for Neda," a call to action against human rights violations by the Iranian government against Iranians protesting the disputed outcome of recent presidential elections.

The song was inspired by the plight of Neda Agha-Soltan, the 26-year old Iranian woman who was fatally shot on the streets of Tehran on June 20. The ordeal was recorded on cell phone video and received international attention when it hit the Internet.

Read full article >>>

Iranian Regime Targets Family of 'Angel of Freedom' Neda Agha Soltan
THE TELEGRAPH: Iranian security officials have begun pulling down posters of Neda Agha Soltan, the young woman who has become the face of the country's pro-democracy uprising after her death in Tehran was captured on video.

Relatives said images of Neda Agha Soltan, 27, who has been described as Iran's "Angel of Freedom" after she was apparently shot dead on Saturday, had been targeted by plain-clothed officials.

They had removed any material commemorating the 27-year-old student that had been erected near her home by sympathisers in the Iranian capital.

Miss Agha Soltan was shot in the chest after she joined a protest near Azadi (Freedom) Square. Within hours an Iranian exile in Europe had posted pictures shot on mobile phones online and the scenes have been viewed by millions since.

Relatives said the authorities had insisted Miss Agha Soltan was buried in a cemetery plot reserved for slain "rioters" and that attempts to hold memorial services had been banned. >>> Damien McElroy, Foreign Affairs Correspondent | Tuesday, June 23, 2009

Police Use Batons and Tear Gas at Neda Soltan Ceremony
TIMES ONLINE: It was meant to be a solemn religious ceremony in a cemetery where countless Islamic revolutionaries and martyrs are buried. Instead, the security forces turned the Behesht-e Zahra cemetery near Tehran into a battlefield yesterday, attacking hundreds of mourners with batons and teargas and driving opposition leaders away before they could even offer their prayers.

The occasion was the end of the 40-day mourning period for Neda Soltan, the student who became an icon of the opposition movement when she was killed in one of the protests after the disputed re-election of President Ahmadinejad.

It was marked not by prayers and readings from the Koran but by the desecration of the cemetery and, on the streets of the capital, battles between the regime’s forces and thousands of defiant Iranians who have refused to abandon their dreams of freedom.

As darkness fell the clashes continued. Observers said that the demonstrators were becoming increasingly fearless and that other protests held recently had been broken up much faster. “They are holding their own. They’re taking the beatings in their stride,” said one witness.

Tyres and rubbish skips burnt on the pavements, the air reeked of teargas and there were reports of gunfire. Many were arrested and the Basij smashed the windows of cars whose drivers supported the protesters by hooting.

The demonstrators, however, had once again made their point: seven weeks after the election, and despite their brutal tactics and mass arrests, the security forces have conspicuously failed to crush the opposition.

“We’re here to show that we’re here to stay. We are a fact the Government has to face,” said Ahmad, a shopkeeper. Maryam, an office worker, said: “We’re out here to show our hatred. You keep hearing about what they did to people in these prisons and all you feel is anger and disgust.”

The inauguration of Mr Ahmadinejad, which is due to take place on Wednesday, will lead to more demonstrations. Mir Hossein Mousavi, his defeated challenger, is expected to build on the opposition’s unexpected momentum by starting a broad political movement to fight for justice and democracy. >>> Martin Fletcher | Friday, July 31, 2009

Security forces, protesters face off in Iran

The Face of Abbas Kargar Javid — Man Accused of Killing Neda Soltan
TIMES ONLINE: 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.

The identification challenges the Iranian regime’s claim that foreign agents shot the young woman, who became a global symbol of resistance to the Government of President Ahmadinejad.

One picture appears on Mr Javid’s Basij identification card, which was taken off him by the crowd that stopped him briefly when he fled the murder scene during a massive demonstration against electoral fraud on June 20.

Photographs of that card and another that was issued by the Interior Ministry have been posted on the internet, and the doctor who tried to save Ms Soltan as she lay dying on a Tehran pavement has confirmed that they show the man who was stopped.

“I can testify for certain that it is the same person,” Arash Hejazi told The Times.

Dr Hejazi said that he had checked with others who witnessed Mr Javid’s detention and they, too, had confirmed that it was the same man. He expressed disgust that a regime that had detained, tortured and killed so many peaceful demonstrators in the past ten weeks had — as far as he knew — taken no action against Mr Javid. “That’s how fair the situation is in Iran right now,” he said.

The regime has put blame for Ms Soltan’s murder on fellow demonstrators, the CIA, hostile foreign governments including Britain, and even the BBC, whose Tehran correspondent, Jon Leyne, was accused of organising the shooting to get good pictures. >>> Martin Fletcher | Thursday, August 20, 2009

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

Remembering Poor Neda: ‘United for Neda’