TEHRAN (AFP, Al Arabiya)
A young Iranian woman whose death during election protests was captured on video, turning her into an icon for the opposition, was an innocent bystander who was targeted by the militia, her fiancé said Monday.
Video of the final moments of Neda Agha-Soltan, with blood pouring from her nose after she was reportedly shot in the chest in Tehran on Saturday, has been flashed around the world on the Internet, catapulting her to.
State radio said at least 10 people were killed on Saturday and more than 100 wounded Her fiance, Caspian Makan, told London-based BBC Persian television on Monday that she had stumbled into the running battles between opposition supporters and Iranian security forces.
"She was near the area, a few streets away, from where the main protests were taking place, near the Amir-Abad area. She was with her music teacher, sitting in a car and stuck in traffic," he said. |
" Eyewitnesses and video footage of the shooting clearly show that probably Basij paramilitaries in civilian clothing deliberately targeted her " Caspian Makan "She was feeling very tired and very hot. She got out of the car for just a few minutes. That's when she was shot dead," Makan, a 37-year-old photojournalist in Tehran, continued.
"Eyewitnesses and video footage of the shooting clearly show that probably Basij paramilitaries in civilian clothing deliberately targeted her. Eyewitnesses said they clearly targeted her and she was shot in the chest," the fiance told the Farsi-language broadcaster. |
Mousavi made a veiled appeal to the security forces to show restraint during demonstrations "She passed away within a few minutes. People tried to take her to the nearest hospital, the Shariati hospital. But it was too late," said Makan.
Makan, who met the 27-year-old music student several months ago and reportedly planned on marrying her, said Neda's family struggled to persuade the Iranian authorities to release her body.
He said that Iranian authorities banned Neda's family from holding a memorial service for her at a mosque because they were afraid it could become the focus of opposition protests.
Iranian state TV has said that 10 people were killed and more than 12D injured during demonstrations on Saturday, the eighth day of the political crisis sparked by the disputed presidential election results. The numbers could not be independently verified because foreign media have been barred from reporting on the protests. |
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3,000 dollar bullets Meanwhile, the Wall Street Journal reported that the family of an Iranian man killed in a demonstration was ordered to pay $3,000 for the bullets that took his life in return for the deceased's body.
The protestor Kaveh Alipour, 19, was shot in the head on Saturday during one of the most violent clashes between protesters and security forces in downtown Tehran.
The paper reported that the authorities told the family they would not hand over the body for burial until they received compensation for the bullets used to shoot him.
The family argued they did not have the money to pay the hefty sum and officials finally gave up the body. |
To watch the video, with the understanding it is quite graphic, Click Here
