Neda Agha-Soltan

I came across this horrifying story this morning and I'm not even sure I've had enough time to sit with it to know how to write about it. What I do know is that on Saturday, June 20, 27 year-old Neda Agha-Soltan was standing in a crowd with a family friend watching a protest in Tehran when a sniper fired a bullet directly into her heart.

Although I'm torn about posting the video, I think it's important to see it and not just let Neda's death become another statistic or passing news story. Beyond that, I'm unable to articulate the significance of her murder because I've only just become aware of what happened and I'm quite simply unable to process it.

Out of fairness, I must let you know that this video is profoundly graphic and definitely should not be viewed by children.



"Neda Agha-Soltan was born in 1982. She was shot by a Basiji hiding in a building. Buried on 21st June, 2009 in the south of Tehran. The memorial service was cancelled on orders from authorities. Hamed Rad who was present at the scene writes about the event:

Basij shots to death a young woman in Tehran's Saturday June 20th protests at 19:05 June 20th Place: Karekar Ave., at the corner crossing Khosravi St. and Salehi St.

A young woman who was standing aside with her father 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 2 minutes.

The protests were going on about 1 kilometers away in the main street and some of the protesting crowd were running from tear gass used among them, towards Salehi St.

The film is shot by my friend who was standing beside me.

Please let the world know."

Source: http://www.ireport.com/docs/DOC-278996

Update: Click HERE to learn more about Neda.