We have all seen the chilling video of the 27-year-old Iranian woman, Neda Agha-Soltani, dying in the streets of Tehran.
In his press conference a few minutes ago, President Obama mentioned the “searing image of a woman bleeding to death on the streets [in Tehran]”
He also mentioned how “powerful images and pointed words have made their way to us through cell phones and computers…”
We know that the video of Neda dying in front of our eyes was captured on a cell phone and that it somehow ended up on every computer and television screen around the world.
But, do we know who took the video and how it ended up on our computers and on TV?
The Dutch newspaper, the NRC Handelsblad, has just published an article answering some of these questions.
In “Iconic Iran video was posted in the Netherlands,” we learn that it was first posted in the Netherlands by an Iranian asylum seeker who only wants to be identified as “Hamed.”
According to the Handelsblad, “[Hamed] is an Iranian refugee living in the Netherlands, and it was from there that he posted the now world-famous 38-second video of the death of 27-year-old Neda Salehi Afgha Soltani on the internet.”
And, Hamed said during a phone interview with the Handlesblad, “I am no hero…the real hero is my friend who risked his life making the video.”
A Facebook friend, that is. Hamed has never met the author of the film except on the social networking site. “Like many Iranians I was very active on Facebook in the run-up to the elections, sharing and spreading information about Mousavi. It was then that we became acquainted.”
According to the Handelsblad,
Last Saturday night, Hamed was busy trying to find out what was happening in Tehran. It was the day after Iran’s supreme leader, ayatollah Ali Khamenei, had declared during Friday prayer that the protests had to stop, and people had to accept the victory of president Mahmoud Ahmadinejad. It was expected that the Baseej, the regime’s street-fighters, would violently suppress any attempted protest, and they did.
In Hamed’s own words:
I was communicating with several people in Tehran on Facebook when this friend contacted me. He said a girl had just been shot dead on the street right next to him and he had filmed it all with his cell phone. He asked me if I could publish it on the internet. So I did, on Facebook and on YouTube. I also sent it to the BBC, The Guardian and other media. I was immediately flooded with email.
The article also discusses the so-called “Twitter Revolution” and how this term is making some people “cringe,” and how some claim that its use “is not only distracting but also dangerous because it reduces a legitimate broad-based grassroots movement to what’s quickly becoming a cliché.”
However,
That may be, but Facebook and YouTube certainly helped getting Neda’s story out, and the Iranian authorities aren’t happy about it. Several media have reported that the Iranian authorities are now doing everything they can to keep Neda from becoming a martyr for the anti-regime protests. Neda’s family was stopped from holding a memorial mosque in the neighbourhood where they live.
And, back to Hamed:
Hamed, the man who originally posted the video has been in the Netherlands since December last year. He fled Iran and applied for asylum in the Netherlands after police searched his apartment and confiscated some of his writing. Hamed was a blogger who regularly commented on political an religious issues in Iran.
Recent events have given Hamed a new calling in life. His Facebook page says: “This was my private page, during the Iranian Protest, It turned to a news portal, I try my own to publish true and correct news…” (sic)
Interest in Hamed’s news portal has soared now that his YouTube page is among the most viewed in the world, and all kinds of media want to talk to him. “I want to show the world what is happening in my country,” Hamed said. “That’s all.”
For the entire article, please click here.
The author is a retired U.S. Air Force officer and a writer.