A Sobering Moment

I wanted to put this on my blog for my own future reference and I didn't initially want to make a whole separate blog post.  But in the end, I decided: why not? This is my journal anyway.  

I just watched the horrific youtube video of the Iranian woman named Neda who was shot on her way to a Tehran protest. She did nothing more than get out of her car and she was brutally murdered by paramilitary figures. The following are quotes from this article that I wanted to remember. If you feel like reading it, you can too: http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,528441,00.html.

Her family scheduled a memorial service to be held in a mosque in northern Tehran, but the government forbade ceremony. She was buried quietly at Tehran's Behesht Zahra cemetery on Sunday with only her family present, says Soona Samsami, executive director of the Women's Freedom Forum, who has been relaying information about protests inside Iran to international media.

All mosques were given a direct order from the government barring them from holding any memorial services for Neda, and her family was threatened with grave consequences if anyone gathered to mourn her, said Samsami.

Soltan's loved ones were outraged by the authorities' order not to eulogize her.

"They were threatened that if people wanted to gather there the family would be charged and punished," Samsami told FOXnews.com.

Much of the attention and blame for Neda's apparent murder is now being focused on Iran's leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, whose threatening speech Friday preceded the violent protests Saturday at which apparently Neda lost her life. Khamenei is now the prime target for protesters' outrage, Khalaji said.

I just wanted to comment on how tragic it is that an innocent woman's family is now denied the ability to mourn her in their traditional way because of governmental fear that she will become a martyr and add fuel to the ongoing protests. She is not the first to lose her life in this struggle, nor is this struggle the only tragic event occurring right now, but it struck a chord with me tonight. It's a very sobering moment to read about.

Sorry. I promise to bring back happy postings soon! I just had to make mention of my thoughts this evening.