Neda was a philosophy student killed during a protest in Iran this past Saturday. The protest was caused by the results of the 2009 Iranian presidential election, as it is believed that the results were manipulated. Although Mahmoud Ahmadinejad won by a landslide, 14 million unused ballots were missing. Protesters felt that Mir-Hossein Mousavui, the runner-up who lost, would have helped Iran change for the better. Mousavui’s main goal was to “to institutionalize social justice, equality and fairness, freedom of expression, to root out corruption and to speed up Iran’s stagnant process of privatization.”
An innocent bystander, Neda and her music teacher decided to get out of the car only because it was too hot. Shortly afterward, Neda was shot in the chest by Iranian state police. Her death has been replayed on both the television and the internet again and again, in hopes to show everyone what’s going on in Iran, and to show how it’s important that this event doesn’t go ignored. It made me sick to my stomach as her eyes rolled into the back of her head, followed by blood pouring out of her nose and mouth.
Buried a day later, the Iranian government denied Neda a proper burial. Her funeral was also barred off from the public, as they knew that the world knew of her death, and they feared that it would draw a large crowd. They forced her family to bury her in a grave plot that was previously set aside for the protest victims. They also banned collective prayers in mosques for Neda.
The Iranian authorities have blocked websites like Facebook and YouTube, in hopes to prevent citizens from uploading media to keep outsiders aware of everything that’s going on. Anyone who has any footage of the protest is encouraged to upload them to websites like YouTube and Ireport.com. Bloggers are also encouraged to spread the word. A representative of YouTube stated that normally, they don’t allow videos of violent nature, but for the Iranian protests, they will make an exception.
Neda, who’s name means “voice” in Farsi, has now became a symbol for this protest, with some of the protesters holding signs that read phrases like “I am Neda.” Her murder was captured by someone’s cell phone and uploaded to the internet.
Yesterday, around 5PM, a DC Metro transit train smashed into the rear of another, ripping through the structure of both trains. One victim described it as feeling like the train hit a brick wall. Many passengers were thrown, and or pinned in between seats. This train crash took the lives of nine people (including the operator of the train that ran into the other train), while 70 of the other passengers are in hospitals. More than 200 firefighters were on the scene.
