Neda Agha-Soltan (Persian: ندا آقاسلطان – Nedā Āghā-Soltān; 23 January 1983 – 20 June 2009) was an Iranian student of philosophy, who was participating in the 2009 presidential election protests with her music teacher, and was walking back to her car when she was fatally shot in the upper chest.

[5] It was in Turkey, more than two months prior to her death, that she met her fiancé, 37-year-old Caspian Makan, who worked as a photojournalist and filmmaker in Tehran, and after that she changed her mind about becoming a tour guide and decided to start photography with him.

"[36] The videos were accompanied by a message from a doctor, later identified as Arash Hejazi, who said he had been present during the incident (but fled Iran out of fear of government reprisals):[37] At 19:05, on 20 June Place: Kargar Ave., at the corner crossing Khowsravi St. and Salehi 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.

[47] The man accused by opposition sources of killing Agha-Soltan was identified as Abbas Kargar Javid, a Basij government militiaman, after photographs of the Basiji's ID cards appeared on the internet, according to The Times.

[49][50][43] After being pronounced dead at Shari'ati hospital, Agha-Soltan was buried at the Behesht-e Zahra cemetery in southern Tehran; she was denied a proper funeral by government authorities.

[52] Opposition figure Soona Samsami, the executive director of the Women's Freedom Forum, who was relaying information about the protests inside Iran to international media outlets, told the foreign press that Agha-Soltan's immediate family were threatened by authorities if they permitted a gathering to mourn her.

"[53] Caspian Makan (Agha-Soltan's fiancé) told the BBC: "Neda had said that even if she lost her life and got a bullet in her heart, she would carry on.

"[54] Pro-government activists have cited this as contradictory to the claim of not being involved in the protests and simply being in the area due to the breakdown of the air conditioning in her car.

[1] Later that day, riot police armed with live ammunition and tear gas dispersed a crowd of between 200 and 1,000 protesters who had gathered in Tehran's Haft-e Tir Square.

[59] On 24 June, The Guardian reported the results of interviews of neighbours who said Agha-Soltan's family had been forced to vacate their apartment some days after her death.

[60] Reuters reported that supporters of presidential candidate Mir-Hossein Mousavi stated they would release thousands of balloons on 26 June 2009 with the message "Nedā you will always remain in our hearts" imprinted on them.

[61] On 31 July 2009, the fortieth day from the killings of such youth as Neda Agha-Soltan, Sohrab Aarabi and Āshkān Sohrābi, a ceremony was held in Tehran where thousands of Iranians mourned for the loss of the victims.

[64] Iran's ambassador to Mexico, Mohammad Hassan Ghadiri, suggested in an interview on 25 June 2009 that the CIA could have been involved in Agha-Soltan's death.

[66] Hejāzi was the man seen in the video placing his hands on Agha-Soltan's chest to staunch her bleeding (as described above under section Circumstances of death).

was incredulous that Ghadiri would so boldly offer a conspiracy theory or obvious disinformation as an explanation: BLITZER: ..You're a distinguished diplomat representing Iran.

You could ask Mr. Andreotti, who was an Italian diplomat, whether Gladiators were a secret group related to CIA or not...During his Friday sermon on 26 June, the Supreme Leader's appointed speaker, Ayatollah Ahmad Khatami, said "evidence shows that [protesters] have done it themselves and have raised propaganda against the system.

Iran's police chief, brigadier general Ahmadi-Moghaddam told the press on 30 June 2009 that the Iranian police and Ministry of Intelligence filed an arrest warrant for Interpol to arrest Ārash Hejāzi, an eyewitness of Agha-Soltan's death, for poisoning the international atmosphere against the Iranian government and spreading misinformation about Agha-Soltan's death in his account of the incident to foreign news media.

[71] Ezzatollah Zarghami, the head of Islamic Republic of Iran Broadcasting, told the press on 4 July 2009 that the videos of Nedā's death were all made by BBC and CNN.

[72][73][74] In December 2009, Iranian state television aired a report about Agha-Soltan's death, portraying it as a western plot.

[75] According to The Times, quoted from Mākān and Agha-Soltan's parents, officials tried to get them to confess that it was opposition protestors that had killed Nedā, and not government militiamen.

[76] In December 2009, her family accused the security forces of killing her, although even most western press accounts so far have stopped short of calling it a targeted political assassination.

Her father told the BBC's Persian service by telephone from Iran: "I openly declare that no one, apart from the government, killed Nedā.

"[77] A picture of Neda was shown among many other people during the song "The Thin Ice", in Roger Waters' The Wall concert tour and later in the film.

[78][79] The first recipient of the scholarship was Arianne Shahvis, a philosophy student of Iranian descent, who described the award as "a great honour".