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Interview with The mother of Neda
by
Reza Soltani | 07.31.2009
The mother of Neda Agha Soltan, the 27-year-old Iranian protester whose death on 20 June was captured on mobile phone video, has spoken at length to the BBC World Service. The following is a transcript of the interview with Hajar Rostami Motlagh.  How did you first hear about your daughter's death? She left the house mid-afternoon. I couldn't join her but I said I'd keep in touch with her. I managed to get through to her twice. I asked her what was going on. She said the streets are full of people… I asked her to come back home. I told her I was worried about her being out in the crowd. She said fine, I will head back home soon. Then I called her again and this time she said she was stuck with her friends in this area where soldiers had fired tear gas…She said her eyes were stinging. The last two people who spoke to her were her uncle and aunt. Then early that evening I got a call from her music teacher. He said: "Come to the hospital, Neda has been shot." He told me she had been shot in the leg. I went to the hospital. The music teacher, Mr Panahi's shirt was covered in blood. I said I want to know the truth… I knew something was wrong… they weren't telling me the truth… They kept saying different things about where she had been shot. Fifteen or 20 minutes later, I learned my daughter was dead. Had Neda been politically active, involved in politics? It was all about being young and feeling passionate about freedom. She wasn't political. She didn't belong to any party or group. She didn't support any faction. Every other young Iranian was there - and she was one of them. She was very special. She finished high school and then got married. Philosophy and theology were her favourite subjects. She was a spiritual person. She believed in God. She loved music. You can't blame young people for going out and wanting to feel free. At the time that she was killed, what were Neda's plans? What were her hopes for her own life? Young people have dreams. I can't tell you what her dreams were - but she wasn't given the chance to make her dreams come true. But there was one dream she spoke about very openly… that she longed to become a mother. She used to ask me how it felt to be a mother? What is it like? And this for me is the most painful thing of all. She got married but she never had a child. She lived with her husband but they separated after three years… and for the past couple of years she was living with me.
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Submitted by Rich Gardner on Fri, 07/31/2009 - 1:20pmPrevented from attending the ceremonies in honour of her daughter, Neda's mother went to the park instead.
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