Grave of Iran protester is desecrated

Family charges Ahmadinejad regime is trying to erase memory of Neda Soltan.

Iason AthanasiadisNovember 17, 2009 06:37Updated May 30, 2010 12:14

A woman holds a placard of Neda Soltan during a demonstration in support of the Iranian opposition in Berlin, June 25, 2009. The killing of Soltan in anti-government demonstrations was captured on a cell phone video and went around the world, making Soltan a symbol of resistance to the Ahmadinejad regime. (Thomas Peter/Reuters)

LONDON, United Kingdom — The grave of Neda Soltan, the Iranian demonstrator whose murder, captured on a cellphone video, became an international symbol for resistance to the Ahmadinejad regime, has been desecrated, according to eyewitnesses in Tehran.

Neda Agha Soltan was killed at the height of the anti-government protests that rocked Iran during the post-election unrest in June. Within hours of her death on the streets of central Tehran, a shocking video of her death went viral, making her the most iconic victim of the Iranian conflict.

Now the Iranian government appears to be trying to stifle all efforts to make her martyr of the resistance.

Despite enormous regime pressure to keep her family silent, Soltan's parents refused to meekly walk off the public stage that circumstances had tragically ushered them onto. Encouraged by the vocal family of a young man who died while in custody, Soltan's mother publicly condemned the Iranian government.

Soltan's boyfriend, Caspian Makan, also refused to keep silent, emerging in the international media to accuse the Islamic Republic of having targeted Soltan for assassination. He was jailed for 65 days on the personal order of Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei and released in September on the condition he neither speak out nor leave Iran. He fled Iran for an undisclosed location and, although he fears for his safety, he denounced the desecration of Soltan's grave.

“Once again the Islamic Republic of Iran has killed Neda,” said Makan, reached at his secret exile. “This inhuman action only shows that the Islamic Republic is even afraid of the earth Neda lies in.”

Hajjar Agha Soltan discovered that her daughter’s gravestone had been shattered one day after the most recent protests on Nov. 4 during a visit.

“As she was realizing it was broken, she was approached by a three-star police general and the man in charge of security for Behesht-e Zahra (Tehran’s largest cemetery),” said Makan. “They tried to calm her down and told her a 'number of people' came and broke it and we promise you that a new stone will replace it as soon as possible.”

The officials said they did not know who the desecrators were and the stone was repaired by the next day.

Makan believes it unlikely that mourners or other non-state elements would have vandalized the gravesite and points out that the authorities have repeatedly erased graffiti proclaiming Neda Soltan a “martyr.”

A witness wrote in Persian how Hajjar Agha Soltan “was shouting that Neda’s gravestone was completely broken and covered it with flowers so that no-one can find it.”