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Neda Agha-Soltan, a young Iranian girl is killed by plainclothes in Tehran

Neda Agha Soltan killed in the streets of Tehran, captured by cell-phone video and spread around the world

A year ago today the symbol of Iranian struggle for democracy – Caution – this video contains graphic violence

A year ago that voter protests in Tehran resulted in death, injury and a crackdown on human rights in Iran. The death of 27 year old Neda Agha Soltan caught the world’s attention. Here was a young girl shot down randomly in the street and caught on cell phone camera. Her death has become an international symbol of the Iranian struggle for freedom.

امروز، سی خرداد، ساعت 7 بعد از ظهر این دختر جوان توسط لباس شخصی ها کشته شد

Basij shot to death a young woman in Tehran’s Saturday June 20th protests.

In the early evening of June 20, 2009, Neda Agha-Soltan was in her car stuck in the traffic on Kargar Avenue in Tehran. She was with Hamid Panahi, her music teacher, and two others people who have not been identified.

They may have been going to the election protest to participate or just to watch. No one can say for sure. The protests or demonstrations had a social aspect that drew people.

The air conditioner broke down so they stopped and got out to walk, about 1 kilometer from the main protest.

Neda was standing on the sidewalk watching and you can see her fall from the gunshot in the video. She was shot in the chest and the bullet entered her heart.

Amateur cell phone video captured the horrendous moment.

Neda fell from the gunshot into the street.

Someone in the crowd around her shouted, “She has been shot! Someone, come and take her!”

When the video was posted on LiveLeak, this message from Dr. Arash Hejazi, was posted with it. Dr. Hejazi was present and is the one attending to Neda:

“At 19:05 June 20th Place: Kargar Ave., at the corner crossing Khosravi St. and Salehi st. A young woman who was standing aside with her father [sic, later identified as her music teacher] 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 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 two minutes. The protests were going on about one kilometre away in the main street and some of the protesting crowd were running from tear gas used among them, towards Salehi St. The film is shot by my friend who was standing beside me.”

Neda is reported to have said “I’m burning, I’m burning!” She died on the way to the hospital.

Dr. Hejazi was one meter away from Neda when she was shot and can be seen trying to stop her bleeding. He later fled Iran to avoid reprisals from the government.

The crowd grabbed a Basij from his motorcycle “We got him, we got him.”

The crowd took his gun and identity papers. He is said to have be Abbas Kargar Javid, (Persian: عباس کارگر جاوید – Abbās Kārgar Jāvɪd).

The frightened Basij was shouting, “I didn’t want to kill her.”

The crowd let him go but kept his identity card. The protesters let him go, but they kept the alleged killer’s identity card and took many photographs of him. A recent documentary on the shooting contained a previously unseen clip of demonstrators capturing the militiaman seconds after the shooting.

Related stories

The video of her sister’s eulogy
The video of her fiancées sad remembrance.
How I secretly filmed the For Neda documentary
HBO documentary refutes official Iranian propaganda

The video is from LiveLeak. The story is from local reports, Wikipedia and Rooz1089