Today is the birthday of Neda Agha Sultan, the girl who was killed with her eyes open and left this world

Those who knew her maintain that Agha-Soltan had not previously been very political – she had not supported any particular candidate in the 2009 elections – but that anger over the election results prompted her to join the protest. Her name is often miscited as “Neda Soltani”. Neda Soltani is a different person, whose Facebook profile photo was mistakenly published in many articles about the incident. She tried in vain to remove her photo from the internet. Claims from both sides have been made, including claims from the government that she was the same person as Agha-Soltan and had faked her own death; and others who claimed that she was herself an agent of the government impersonating Agha-Soltan to sully her memory. Within two weeks, she had fled from Iran and was granted asylum in Germany in 2010.

January 25, 2023 | 12:31 am