Obama to Iran, "The world is watching."
A woman's dying moments were caught on cell phone video and rapidly spread across several social networking websites to paint a clear picture of the violence pro-democracy demonstrators encounter at moments notice. The horrific video that captured the college student's last breaths quickly shifted the world's attention to the sobering reality of Iran's civil unrest.
Neda Soltani, a philosophy student, was shot down while she and her father were participating in, what appeared to be, a peaceful protest in the capital city of Tehran until the shooting occurred. A blogger posted his speculation of pro-government Basiji militia shot the young woman from a rooftop, reports CNN.
Iranian government has forced all global media from Tehran, forbidding anyone from video taping, photographing or reporting the revolutionary upheaval of Iranians who believe the June 12 election was rigged in Ahmadinejad's favor.
Reporters Without Borders said 33 Iranian journalists and bloggers have been arrested for failure to adhere to the media ban.
The lead reporter of BBC Persia aired video of a crowd of protestors who threw stones at a group of heavily armed police with riot shields. The rebels, who outnumbered the police, were so determined to show their resistance, the small group of law enforcers were forced to retreat.
The BBC reporter was told by the government he had 24 hours to leave the country.
"The regime has been visibly shaken by its own population and does not want to let this perception endure. That is why the media have become a priority target," Reporters Without Borders said.
A passerby, who seemed to be randomly shooting video from his cell phone, caught gruesome images of Neda collapsing in the street and less than a minute later, she had passed away. Her father frantically called for her to stay alert and keep her eyes open as blood spilled from her face.
"The final moments of her tender young life leaked into the pavement of Karegeh Street today, captured by cell phone cameras," the anonymous blogger posted on Newsvine.com. "And not long after, took on new life, flickering across computer screens around the world on YouTube, and even CNN."
By Sunday morning, the video was one of the top "trending topics" on Twitter. The Iranians have sought he help of the all Twitterers, asking that they reset their Twitter avatar (http://helpiranelection.com/), to keep Iranian officials from tracing the online social network users.
Many other world leaders believe the Iranian government is neglecting to comply with its peoples wishes.
Germany has called for a revote in addition to the French President, Nicolas Sarkozy, who called Iran's government handling of the protests "inexcusable." President Obama called for the government to "stop all violence and unjust actions against its own people and understand that the world is watching."
President Ahmadinejad's retort to Obama's and other world leader's statements raises concerns among many, "Definitely, you would not be placed inside Iranians' circle of friendship with such hasty comments. Thus I recommend you to rectify your interventionist stances," he said. "The enemies are not aware that 70 million people of Iran are against interference of foreigners and arrogance," he added.
The world, as a whole, is in shock over the sudden death of Neda, whose name means "voice."
"They killed Neda, but not her voice," read a Twitter update. "Neda is everyone's sister, everyone's daughter, everyone's voice for freedom."
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