Tuesday, June 23 2009

Neda and al-Dura: Equivalent Icons?

Neda Agha-Soltan, the 27-year-old Iranian women shot and killed by Iranian security forces has emerged a powerful icon in the protest movement. Her dying moments were captured by amateur video, posted on YouTube, sparking outrage across Iran and the world.

Now, I'm seeing Neda compared to another so-called "martyr," Mohammed al-Dura. The Financial Times baldly states:

The footage of a Palestinian man being shot dead next to his 12-year-old son, Muhammad Jamal al-Durrah, by Israeli forces in Gaza in 2000 has been etched in the minds of many Iranians, as state television has continually replayed the images to highlight the “Zionist regime’s brutality.”

Now, the Islamic regime itself has become the subject of similar allegations at home and abroad after gruesome footage of a dying young woman during the suppression of an opposition protest on Saturday was released on the internet.

The idea that the IDF killed Dura is by now discredited. Here's a mere shortlist of key debunking developments:

• A physicist and engineer's re-enactment raised the first questions.
• German documentary Three Bullets and a Dead Child concluded Dura could not have been killed by IDF fire.
• James Fallows of The Atlantic concluded Israel could not have shot Dura.
• Two independent journalists invited to watch then-unreleased raw footage conclude IDF fire could not have killed Dura.
• A French appeals court ruled that Philippe Karsenty was within his rights to call France 2's footage of Dura a hoax after France 2's Charles Enderlin sued Karsenty for defamation.

Unless it's proven that Neda was either -- dare I say -- killed by protestors for propaganda purposes or that her death is simply a hoax, don't degrade her with al-Dura comparisons.

One suggestion for putting this icon equivalency to rest: renaming Tehran's Mohammad Dura St. in Neda's memory.

UPDATE: According to Dr. Amy L. Beam, a photo of the wrong woman has become the symbol of the protesters. There is, apparently, another Neda Soltani who is very much alive and possibly in danger now.

Posted at 05:16 PM

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