An Iranian woman mistaken for Neda Agha-Soltan, whose death in post-election protests last year became a symbol of Iran’s opposition movement, has found her own political voice after being forced into exile.
“I have a personal link to her (the other Neda) because her death somehow caused a serious destruction of my life. Not her immediate death but the consequences of her death,” Neda Soltani told AFP.
Shocking images of Agha-Soltan bleeding to death on a Tehran street after being shot during a June 2009 demonstration were broadcast on the Internet and seen around the world.
The 26-year-old student was viewed as a martyr, and in a rush to get images several media mistakenly took a picture of Soltani from her Facebook page and presented it as Agha-Soltan. Within days, the photo was printed on t-shirts, posters and in newspapers around the world.
Soltani, a 32-year-old English literature lecturer from the University of Tehran, had no connection with Agha-Soltan.
Despite her attempts to correct the mistake, the Iranian regime threatened her life and eventually she sought political asylum in Germany.
