Another Sad Anniversary

Riots, protests, political strife of all ilks - so many senseless reasons for loss of human life over the decades and centuries...  And here is approaching the anniversary of another one, gone way too soon, due to the folly of mankind... Here follows an account of an unnecessary demise, written by a first-hand witness, a civilian who had medical knowledge and tried to save this life on the spot...

Rest In Peace, Nedā Āghā-Soltān

Global Informer

Footage of the death of Nedā Āghā-Soltān[11] (Persian: نِدا آقا سُلطان - Nedā Āġā Soltān; January 23, 1983 – June 20, 2009) drew international attention after she was killed during the 2009 Iranian election protests.[12] Her death was captured on video by bystanders and broadcast over the Internet[13] and the video became a rallying point for the opposition.[13] It was described as "probably the most widely witnessed death in human history".

Circumstances of her death. On June 20, 2009, at around 6:30 p.m., Nedā Āghā-Soltān was sitting in her Peugeot 206 in traffic on Kārgar Avenue in the city of Tehran.[13] She was accompanied by her music teacher, Hamid Panahi.[26][31] The four were on their way to participate in the protests against the outcome of the 2009 Iranian presidential election.[32] The car's air conditioner was not working well, so she stopped her car some distance from the main protests and got out on foot to escape the heat. She was standing and observing the sporadic protests in the area when she was shot in the chest.[33]

As captured on amateur video,[13] she collapsed to the ground and was tended to by a doctor, her music teacher, and others from the crowd. Someone in the crowd around her shouted, "She has been shot! Someone, come and take her!"[34] The videos were accompanied by a message from a doctor, later identified as Dr. Arash Hejazi, who said he had been present during the incident (but has since fled Iran out of fear of government reprisals):[35]

At 19:05 June 20th Place: Kārgar Ave., at the corner crossing Khosravi St. and Sālehi 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 at 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 Sālehi St. The film is shot by my friend who was standing beside me.[3]

Her last words were, "I'm burning, I'm burning!", according to Panāhi.[26] She died en route to Tehran's Shariati hospital.[19] However, the civilian physician that tended to Nedā in the video has stated that Nedā died on the scene.[36][37] Hejāzi, standing one metre away from her when she was shot, tried to staunch her wound with his hands. Hejāzi said nearby members of the crowd pulled a man from his motorcycle while shouting: "We got him, we got him," disarmed him, obtained his identity card and identified him as a member of the Basij militia (government paramilitary). The militiaman was shouting, "I didn't want to kill her." The protesters let him go, but they kept the alleged killer's identity card and took many photographs of him.[4] A recent documentary on the shooting contained a previously unseen clip of demonstrators capturing the militiaman seconds after the shooting.[38]

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With thanks to the Global Informer on FB - article originally appeared elsewhere but was prickled for our lugubrious readers from that social network place...  

And from the Informer's ongoing series-within-an-album simply titled 

''historical people''...

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