generalspeaking

Mourning Neda Soltan

During Iran's failed "green revolution" when hundreds of thousands of Iranians swept into the streets in Tehran and other cities of the Islamic Republic of Iran after the presidential vote that was so obviously corrupted and which returned Mahmoud Ahmadinejad to power, one particularly vile incident seemed to stand out, arresting the attention of the world.

A young university student, curious about what was occurring on the streets, decided to go out for herself, with a few friends, to witness her country's latest upheaval. She hadn't been a part of the protest group. She was, in effect, a bystander. Her name was Neda Soltan, and her dying agony on the street, shot by a motorcycle basiji at random, was indelibly captured for posterity.

The Republican Guard and their helpers, the black-clad, motorcycle-driving, gun-wielding basiji eventually wore down the protesters. Thousands of protesters proudly wearing symbolic green signifying their determination to effect a social-political revolution, led by two main political figures, were arrested, placed in detention, many tortured, and some murdered.

Grand Ayatollah Ali Khamenei was forcefully blunt and decisive; the protest was not to succeed and the people would simply have to accept that he decreed the vote was perfectly above board and Mahmoud Ahmadinejad's presidency was to continue. Battered and downcast, the revolutionaries withdrew their protests into simmering resentment that still resonates.

On the anniversary of their daughter's murder, her parents, Ali Agha Soltan and his wife Hajer, visited the cemetery where their daughter is buried. The cemetery was accessible only to the relatives; the public not permitted entry, and police were present to ensure that nothing untoward occurred that might disturb the peace.

When Neda Soltan's mother became anguished at the site in expressing her inconsolable grief, laying flowers at their child's gravesite, police intervened. Ali Agha Soltan was angered at the orders of the security forces for their hostile show of disrespect, and as he protested, he was shoved to the ground and placed in a headlock.

They lost their daughter and gained the enmity of the government. They are not to express grief in public; to do so is to risk being assaulted.

Labels: Conflict, Iran, TerrorismIslamMiddle East

posted by Pieface @ Thursday, June 23, 2011