Iconic
 

"When I first saw the images, I was shocked. They made me cry." Hamed posted the film on YouTube and Facebook, where thousands watched them. Meanwhile, the horrific scenes have become as iconic as the photo of the lone Chinese man facing a tank column on Peking's Tiananmen Square in 1989. The 27-year-old woman, Neda Soltan, died on Saturday at a demonstration in Haft-e-Tir square. Eyewitnesses say she was shot from a rooftop by a sniper belonging to pro-government Baseej militias. Her name, Neda, is Farsi for "the voice" or "the call".

Since hardline president Mahmud Ahmadinejad's disputed election win over opposition candidate Hossein Mousavi, mass protests have been going on in the cities of Iran. Revolutionary guards and Baseej vigilantes are violently crushing the protests. Iranian state tv put the number of dead at the demonstrations over the presidential election results at 10, while more than 100 were reported injured in Tehran alone on Saturday. These numbers are difficult to verify since Iran is preventing independent foreign media from reporting from within the country.

War on Iran?

Political reactions around the world to the post-election violence in Iran continue. Dutch Foreign Minister Maxime Verhagen repeatedly summoned the Iranian chargé d'affaires to voice the Netherlands' strong disapproval of the "excessive violence" used against protesters. Anti-islam opposition MP Geert Wilders called for breaking off all diplomatic relations with Iran, a plea which earned him the scorn of the Socialist Party. MP Harry van Bommel said to nu.nl that

"Wilders is not acting in the interest of the Iranian people. He wants to provoke a war against Iran. ... It has always been his policy to attack Iran in order to protect Israel."

The two MPs are supporting opposite sides in the Middle East conflict. Mr Van Bommel is as pro-Palestinian as Mr Wilders is pro-Israel.