In Iran, one woman - Neda - becomes a symbol

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In Iran, one woman - Neda - becomes a symbol

State media has confirmed 17 deaths as a result of the protests that followed the disputed election in Iran. But one death, a woman who has become known as Neda, has stood out to protesters - and to the world.

Neda, which may or may not be her real name, means "the call" or "the voice" in Farsi. She was shot yesterday at a protest in Tehran, and her death was captured on video, now widely circulated on YouTube, Facebook, Twitter and other sites.

A word of caution: The video contains very graphic images, but you can find it on YouTube here. Because of its content, YouTube will ask you to sign in and verify your age. Another video, which appears to depict Neda at the protest before she was shot, has also surfaced.

The video of her death comes with this description, written by someone who claims to have been at the scene. It gives his version of events and has not been independently verified:

At 19:05 June 20th

Place: Karekar Ave., at the corner crossing Khosravi St. and Salehi st.

A young woman who was standing aside with her father 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 2 minutes.

The protests were going on about 1 kilometers away in the main street and some of the protesting crowd were running from tear gass used among them, towards Salehi St.

#Neda has become one of the most used "hashtags" on Twitter, and Google searches for the video and information about her have spiked.

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Some Twitter users have worked her name into their avatars and many have shared their condolences on the site.

The mainstream media has started to cover Neda, too. CNN broadcast the video of her death - with a large portion blurred out - and looked at how the online community has responded to it. And Los Angeles Times and New York Times bloggers jumped on it, too.

The best story, by far, comes from Time. With so few facts, it's hard to offer context, but Time does a good job. The story describes how Shiite Muslims mourn the dead - after 3 days, 7 days and 40 days - and discusses how that schedule could prolong the conflict in Iran.

As Robin Wright wrote in Time, "Although it is not yet clear who shot "Neda" (a soldier? pro-government militant? an accidental misfiring?), her death may have changed everything."

http://blogs.usatoday.com/ondeadline/2009/06/in-.html