WARNING: Graphic images of the death of Neda Agha-Soltan on the streets of Tehran, Iran, June 20, 2009. This newly released cellphone video shows the death of the young Iranian woman from a different angle than any previously released.
Almost a year after a video of the death of Neda Agha-Soltan hit the Internet and circled the globe, a new cellphone video has surfaced shedding light on the circumstances of the young Iranian woman's death.
The video, previously undisclosed, was taken by another of the witnesses to her death, a bystander caught up in a tragic moment on June 20, 2009, on the streets of Tehran.
Most remarkably, because it is shot at a different angle (starting at her head), it shows aspects of her tragic death that were not seen in either of the other two previously released videos, including the one that is best known.
Members of Iran's government, including Iranian president Mahmoud Ahmadinejad whose disputed re-election was the source of the unrest in which Neda met her death, have sought to prove the death of Neda Agha-Soltan was staged and have launched multiple claims regarding that on state television, including asserting that Neda was holding a bottle of blood in her right hand when she fell and squirted it on her face for the camera.
The new video clearly shows that is not the case.
Dr. Arash Hejazi, seen attending to Neda in the video, has consistently maintained in press interviews that she was shot by a member of the Basij militia and has positively identified her killer, who was reportedly grabbed by the crowd afterward and his identity papers taken. Ahmadinejad ordered an investigation into the death of Neda Agha-Soltan and promised that those responsible would be brought to justice, but so far, that has not happened.
The source of the new video is unknown. It was first reported Friday by Radio Free Europe.
Press TV report from January on documentary of death of Neda Agha-Soltan asserting the death was staged. The newly released cellphone video provides evidence contrary to claims in the Iran state TV report.
There is a new film broadcast by Iranian TV advancing additional theories of Neda's death. It currently appears on YouTube as "Ahmadinejad's Version of How Jews Killed Neda Agha-Soltan," in seven parts (this is not in English):
On the Web:
Iran State TV Suggests Neda's Iconic Death Was 'Faked' - Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty
Iranian TV Sees Conspiracy in Neda Video - NY Times (The Lede)
New Video Shows Neda's Final Moments - Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty
Neda Agha-Soltan: 'She is dead but regime is still afraid of her' - The Guardian
New Neda Agha-Soltan film removed from YouTube - Street Journalist
The original more familiar video of the death of Neda Agha-Soltan that was first posted to the Internet shortly after her death can be found here: Neda Video
For an index to all my articles on Iran and Neda, see: On the One-Year Anniversary: A Year of Iran and Neda
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Ted Frier
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Comments
You said, “Members of Iran’s government, including Iranian president Mahmoud Ahmadinejad…. have sought to prove the death of Neda Agha-Soltan was staged and have launched multiple claims regarding that on state television.”
I thought they gave up on that tactic a long time ago. Last July, the official Islamic Republic News Agency (IRNA) began promoting the concept of a foreign conspiracy behind the demonstrations that took place during last year’s elections, and their intelligence ministry implied that the Agha-Soltan murder may have been a part of that conspiracy. Within a month, the video footage and eye-witness accounts made it difficult for them to continue with the Agha-Solton conspiracy connection.
Ahmadinejad is a complete idiot, but he’s smart enough to know when to stop pushing an unsupportable conspiracy theory to his people.
Anyway, thanks for the update. The Agha-Solton video was hard to watch, but we all need to be reminded from time-to-time of what took place that day in Tehran.
"This video was broadcasted last week, and has made Iran government very angry. Because it explicitly illustrates that Neda didn't have any bottle in her hand and moreover, Arash Hejazi did not get on the car to take Neda to hospital. I don't know whether you have been following the case or not, but government made a fake movie about this scene and tried to tell that this was a show, Neda was alive and used red color to pretend bleeding. Then Dr. Hejazi got on the car and killed her!!! so, this new movie of that incident proved that they are lying. And just after this new video, government had to make another movie, denying that Arash Hejazi was murderer!! they told that Neda was killed by another terrorist group and claimed another fake scenario. As you see, this short video had a great role on showing the reality and was covered in media. But I guess you can talk more about that in international media."