Neda, young girl brutally killed in Iran (portrait of Neda)

NY Post ^ | 6.21.09 | Helen Kennedy

[libh8er]

They call her Neda, which means 'voice' in Farsi, and her death has become the central rallying cry of the Iranian rebellion.

The pretty teenage girl killed by what appears to be a single sniper shot on the streets of Tehran Saturday is now a potent symbol for pro-democracy protesters battering the Islamic regime.

Her quick and brutal death in the arms of her howling father was captured on close-up video, posted to Facebook and sent to computer screens across the world.

"Neda you broke my heart, too young to die," was one of a flood of messages on Twitter.

"RIP Neda, the world cries seeing your last breath," read another. "Neda is everyone's sister, everyone's daughter, everyone's voice for freedom," said a third.

Iconic posters of her dead face, open-eyed and bloody, were carried by demonstrators in Los Angeles and New York City within hours.

The graphic video was originally posted to Facebook by an Iranian expatriate in Holland who said it was sent to him by a friend in Tehran, a doctor who tried to save the girl.

The expat said her name was Neda Soltani, a 16-year-old philosophy student.

The outpouring of messages on Twitter included a new account dedicated solely to insisting the video was fake. That poster was roundly shouted down as a tool of the Iranian regime.

[AnAmericanMother]

The New York Post has a photo of her in life. The age has been corrected, she was 27 and a philosophy student.

I think what you're seeing in the man's hand is just his wristwatch. The blood is on the ground, her jeans and her chest before they lay her down. They have their hands on her upper chest because they are trying to stanch the blood from the entry wound.

When you see her eyes roll up and fix, she is already gone. The blood pouring from her mouth and nose is simply her heart continuing to pump.

I've investigated a lot of horrible deaths, and I've been at the scene of a fatal while they were pulling the dying out. This is for real. I don't see how they could fake it.

[bootless]

Way, WAY over his pay grade.

RIP, Neda.

[Mamzelle]

Celebrities should know better than to allow themselves to be photographed eating.

[Petronski]

There is something in the man’s hand that can be seen before the blood starts pouring out of her mouth.

And nose....and wherever it came from to provide that pool of blood she was laying in.

Left eye filled with blood with no blinking reaction, right eye rolled back and out with no blinking.

Some trick.

[RummyChick]

No, you aren’t looking in the right place. It appears to be Neda’s hand. It is just caked blood? Is it an empty hand? Is something in her hand?

You can see various fews here.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XdfN_NoFviA

I think people yesterday thought it was someone else’s hand doing something but it appears to be Neda’s hand.

To me, it looks like she died but I have no experience in the subject as I have never seen anyone actually die.

[RushIsMyTeddyBear]

It was not fake. She was hit in the heart. She drowned in her own blood.

There are TWO views of her on the internet, BTW. Try to see, if you can bear it.

I found it by typing ‘Iran, girl, shot’ into YouTube search.

[Viking2002]

Behold the festering cancer in our national soul; the shame in our collective hearts; and the stain in our cultural underwear - THIS useless lump of human flotsam:

[keats5]

Plus, she wasn’t instigating anything at the time. She doesn’t even appear to be near any of the troops.

[hatfieldmccoy]

http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2276315/posts?q=1&;page=1

[mware]

I haven't the heart to watch the video. I did see a still photo of Nada, and she was a beautiful young woman.

May her family find peace and justice for Nada.

[RushIsMyTeddyBear]

Amen. Amen.

[AnAmericanMother]

I think it is just her hand unclenching. I don't see anything in it, although the pic is blurry.

Really you're straining at gnats and swallowing a camel. The very best eyewitness has inconsistencies - that's what keeps defense attorneys employed. You've got a camera eyewitness and you're still not satisfied.

It doesn't matter if she had a cell phone in her hand, or a hair clip, or a fountain pen. She was just standing there when she got a rifle bullet to the chest. She died. The film is consistent with those facts. Quit worrying about trifles.

[joejm65]

‘Look at the 50 second mark. There is something in a hand. It appears to be Neda’s hand.’

I just re-watched 2 different videos of the event. I would consider one video suspicious if she wasn’t already covered in blood and placed in a pool of blood before her face started bleeding. Another video shows her with no hands near her face, and it’s plain to see that blood is gushing from her face, not just covering it. Final verdict from me: real. Could we all be wrong? Sure. But, I don’t think so...

[Mr Ramsbotham]

This photo is at the exact point where blood begins pouring from her mouth. I can't see anything contrived.

[justa-hairyape]

Don't listen to the audio. I took the headphones off before playing. The video is bad enough. What is real ironic is that this was exactly the kind of thing that was happening within Iraq under Saddam Hussein and no one was there to video tape it for the Iraqi people at the time.

[AnAmericanMother]

You're right. It's the audio that makes it very bad.

I turned off the sound, I couldn't bear to hear her father crying. I have a 21 year old daughter of my own.

[Publius6961]

Not that her life is any less valuable, but there is no need to hype, liberal-style, her age.
If, as reported elsewhere, she was actually 27, the use of the word "teenager" is gratuitous and unnecessary.

[maggief]

Grillin'

Chillin'

Jack and Jillin'

Killin'

[roadcat]

There is no blood until you see a man’s hand come near her and he looks like he is pouring something on her. Then you see blood.

Look frame-by-frame at the video.

http://www.casttv.com/video/l5to8e1/neda-video

The man's hand is on the other man's hand, and he lifts his hand away towards her head. There is nothing in his hands, other than the blood from her chest. Her mouth is closed near where the man's hand was. And blood oozes from the other corner of her mouth. Not fake.

[drpix]

"...it may be Neda’s hand you see with what appears to some kind of vial/container..."

I looked frame by frame again. Her right hand never approaches her face so the left hand is easy to follow. That palm is also already full of blood as it comes above her shoulders so you must be seeing only what you want to see.