TEHRAN — Security was tight Thursday around the bare graveside of Neda Agha-Soltan. Militiamen and police stood nearby, witnesses said, and it was difficult for visitors to hold a conversation within sight and hearing of the glaring officers.
But the visitors come nonetheless to pay their respects to Agha-Soltan, who was gunned down by an unknown assailant during protests Saturday over Iran’s disputed elections. Her dying moments were captured on video and found their way onto the international airwaves and the Internet.
“I read the news on the Web, and I saw the picture of grave,” said one man, hovering the near the burial site. “I figured out the location of the grave and came. We are here for Neda and our deceased relatives, too,” he said. “We are here to utter our respect for them.”
The man said that he, too, was in the street that day. “She was with us,” he said. “Maybe one of us would have been killed that day. We are here to respect her, and all the martyrs they killed in the last days.”
Another man who came to pay tribute said he found it amazing that the government was now fighting ordinary people. “Not even the politicians or some students, but normal people in the streets,” he said.
“All of us are in danger, like Neda,” said another man. “Now the military has taken the power and prevents us from paying our respects. It’s not a big request. We want respect to Neda.”
