Death of Neda Agha-Soltan
| Nedā Āghā-Soltān | |
|---|---|
Photo by Caspian Makan
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| Born | 23 January 1983 Tehran, Iran |
| Died | 20 June 2009 (aged 26) West of Kārgar Avenue at the intersection between Khosravi and Sālehi Streets, Tehrān, Iran 35°43′8.57″N 51°23′30.60″E / 35.7190472°N 51.3918333°E |
| Cause of death | Shot |
| Resting place | Behesht-e Zahrā cemetery, southern Tehran |
| Residence | Meshkini Street, Tehrānpars neighborhood, Tehrān |
| Nationality | Iranian |
| Alma mater | Islamic Āzād University (second semester of Theology) |
| Employer | Family's travel agency |
| Known for | Death during the 2009 Iranian election protests |
| Political party | Known as generally apolitical |
Footage of the death of Nedā Āghā-Soltān (Persian: نِدا آقاسُلطان – Nedā Āġā Soltān; 23 January 1983 – 20 June 2009) drew worldwide attention after she was shot dead during the 2009 Iranian election protests. Āghā-Soltān, a student of philosophy, was participating in the protests (though not politically influenced, but rather supporting the supporters of Mousavi), accompanied by her music teacher and was walking back to her car when she was fatally shot in the chest. The murderer of Neda is disputed; according to CNN, BBC, and Fox News, she was shot by Basij, a paramilitary organization. Her death was captured on video by bystanders and broadcast over the Internet, and the video became a rallying point for the opposition.
Agha-Soltan's death was described as "probably the most widely witnessed death in human history." Her death became iconic in the struggle of Iranian protesters against the disputed election of President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad.
Nedā (ندا) is a word used in Classic Persian and modern Persian to mean "voice", "calling" (sometimes understood as a "divine message", but this is not the etymological sense of ندا), and she has been referred to as the "voice of Iran".
Āghā-Soltān was the middle child of a middle-class family of three children, whose family resided in a fourth floor flat on Meshkini Street in the Tehrānpars district of Tehran. Her father is a civil servant and her mother is a homemaker. She was graduating from Islamic Āzād University, where she had studied Islamic theology as well as secular philosophies, but she withdrew after two semesters of study for two reasons, one being a disagreement with her husband Amir and his family, and the other being the atmosphere and the pressure of the authorities towards her appearance and dress in the university. She was divorced, and according to her mother, had difficulty in finding work because of how employers perceived her.
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