A year after Neda's death, Iran movement continues

By Reza Sayah, CNN

June 20, 2010 10:04 a.m. EDT

(CNN) -- A year ago Sunday, Neda Agha-Soltan died of a single gunshot wound to the chest. Her last moments -- captured on a cell phone camera and shown around the world-- catapulted her into the symbol of the postelection reform movement in Iran.

Today, the Iranian regime's crackdown seems to have driven protesters off the streets. But the movement is not weakening, some analysts say. Instead, it's evolved into an online underground civil rights struggle, they say.

"I think they're going to continue to move forward, whether in the form of a green movement or another type of movement," said Karim Sadjadpour, a fellow at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace. "It's just, basically, this march of history."

Agha-Soltan, 26, was at an anti-government demonstration in Tehran when she was felled by a single bullet to the chest.

"She has been shot! Someone, come and take her!" shouts one man in the shaky cell phone video that has since been seen around the world.

The video then shows blood streaming from her mouth, then from her nose. Her eyes roll to her right; her body is limp.

A man, who had accompanied her to the rally, is then heard pleading with her by name.

"Neda, do not be afraid, do not be afraid," he repeats.

Agha-Soltan was taken to a nearby hospital and, within a day, she was buried at Behesht Zahra, the city's largest Muslim cemetery, on the outskirts of the capital.

Immediately afterward, she emerged as the face of the anti-government movement.

Even world leaders took notice.

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"We've seen courageous women stand up to the brutality and threats and we've experienced the searing image of a woman bleeding to death on the streets," said President Barack Obama.

Eight days before Agha-Soltan's death, Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad's landslide election victory unleashed massive demonstrations in the country.

Thousands of green-clad protesters took to the streets, accusing the government of rigging the elections.

Iran's leaders called the uprising a foreign-led plot to overthrow the regime. It cracked down on the protesters -- with many killed and even more jailed.

Images of the bloody crackdown fueled worldwide outrage. Agha-Soltan's pictures are still carried on placards at rallies outside Iran.

"She will become the image of this brutality, and of the role -- the truly significant role -- that women have played in fighting this regime," said Abbas Milani of Stanford University in California. "I think that women are the unsung heroes of the last few years. They are the ones who began chipping away at the authority, the absolute dictatorship of the mullahs."

Iranian authorities continue to deny that security forces were responsible for killing Agha-Soltan.

Instead, they have offered at least three separate explanations. They have blamed the CIA, terrorists and supporters of the opposition movement themselves.

One year after Agha-Soltan's death, Iranian officials have yet to announce a single arrest in connection with her killing.

Neda Agha-Soltan, aged 27, was shot to death on 20 June 2009, during a peaceful demonstration in Tehran, protesting the results of the 12 June 2009, presidential elections. She was apparently shot by a Basij (paramilitary) sniper. The video of her last minutes, as Dr. Arash Hejazi and other bystanders tried to save her while blood poured over her face, galvanized people around the world. Although the one-year anniversary of her death is approaching, the Iranian government has as yet not carried out an investigation into her death, or the dozens of other killings of peaceful post-election protesters.

A representative of Iran’s Supreme Leader claimed that election protesters themselves had killed Neda Agha-Soltan. Her relatives, have been harassed, her fiancé was detained for a period of time, and the physician who tried to save her was forced into exile. The authorities have also tried to prevent others from commemorating her and on 5 November 2009, Neda Agha-Soltan’s tombstone at Behesht-e Zahra cemetery was vandalized. Amnesty International is calling on Iran to allow the U.N. Reporter on Extra-Judicial, Summary, and Arbitrary Executions to visit the country to investigate the post-election killings of Neda Agha-Soltan and others.

After Mahmoud Ahmadinejad was declared the winner in the 12 June 2009 presidential elections in Iran, there were widespread protests against the contested election results. The Iranian authorities responded with violence and repression. Dozens of people were reportedly killed and many more injured in violent assaults by Basij paramilitary and riot police.

Many thousands of people have been arrested while hundreds remain in detention. There have been persistent reports of torture and sexual abuse of those in custody. Over 100 people have been convicted of offenses related to allegedly fomenting the post-election unrest, many after perfunctory show trials in Revolutionary Courts that failed to adhere to international standards for fair trials ; at least sixteen of those were sentenced to death.

Neda Agha-Soltan was in a car on Kargar Avenue in Tehran with her music teacher Hamid Panahi and others when it was stopped in traffic by a large demonstration taking place on 20 June 2009. Members of the paramilitary Basij on motorcycles were attacking demonstrators. After Neda Agha-Soltan left the car, she was shot in the chest.

As physician Arash Hejazi tried to save her, a cell phone video captured the scene, which was transmitted around the world. The crowd captured a member of the Basij, Abbas Kargar Javid, who was attempting to flee the scene. He claimed he "didn't intend to kill her." His ID card was confiscated and later posted online. He still has not been brought to justice. At least ten people were killed during the massive protests that day. Amnesty International has repeatedly urged that unregulated Basij paramilitaries should not be used by the authorities to police demonstrations.

Neda Agha-Soltan’s fiancé Caspian Makan, a photographer, was arrested after he told BBC Persian TV that eyewitnesses and video footage showed that she had been deliberately killed by Basij, while in custody at Evin prison, he was interrogated and told he would be charged with acting against national security. He was released after more than two months in detention, but had to flee Iran out of fear for his safety. After Neda Agha-Soltan’s death, a group of women—the Mourning Mothers—decided to hold silent vigils on Saturdays in Laleh Park in Tehran, but those peaceful vigils have been continually disrupted by Iranian authorities and participants have been arrested and detained.

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