She lived in a typical middle-class neighborhood in a large metropolitan city. Her name was Neda Agha Soltan. And she had dreams..
After high school, she entered university. Rather than take a vocational path, she chose instead to study Islamic theology and philosophy - for Neda was young, compassionate and had an open mind toward ideas beyond her culture.
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After graduation, her marriage lasted only a few years and ended in divorce. As a result of her 'marital status', she was unable to find gainful employment in her patriarchal and largely intolerant society. Divorce, particularly for a woman in Iran, is a stigma still difficult to overcome.
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Neda did not despair. She pressed on and began taking singing lessons with the hopes of aspiring to some success within the musical realm of her age group.
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In June, the ruling class of Iran fixed the results of the democratic elections in order to allow the current president, a Holocaust-denier who vows to 'wipe Israel off the map', to continue his oppressive rule for the benefit of the corrupt elite.
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Similar to tens of thousands of other Iranians, Neda took to the streets in protest. Armed only with signs and clad in green - the color of reform in Iran - she marched side by side with her family and her nation. The massive crowds, chanting for a recount, made the clerics and government officials nervous. For the first time since the Iranian Revolution in 1979, the people were rising up to question the legitimacy of the regime.
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Thereafter, the government dispatched its special police force to crackdown on the protesters and ruthlessly quash all dissent. Over 500 citizens were arrested in the first week alone. State-sponsored street thugs broke into homes and carted off an untold number of suspected activists. Many leaders of the movement were tortured.
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Walking side-by-side with her father that day amid a sea of green, Neda was one of thousands of women on the street to protest the 'injustice' (her word) of the election result. To turn the protesters back, internal security officers fired live ammunition into the crowd. Seconds later, Neda lie dying on the ground from a gunshot wound. Her father, who held her in his arms, could do nothing as his daughter uttered her last words, 'I'm burning. I'm burning.'
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In the last few weeks, Queens College at Oxford University established a graduate scholarship in the name of Neda Agha Soltan for students of philosophy - a commendable act indeed. Needless to say, the Iranian government has made an official protest over the student award.
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In memory of Neda and to support the thousands of oppressed women in Iran and elsewhere in the world, Kleostoday asks all universities and colleges around the world to create a similar scholarship for the study of philosophy and religion in the name of Neda for the purpose of inspiring the next generation of both male and female students to not only seek the truth - but to also stand up for the truth and be heard.
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As Neda's name means 'voice', her voice must be carried on by those with the courage to fight for justice and equality in Iran and around the world.
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In our collective conscience, she is still 'burning' - as a fire representing the endless struggle of humanity to overcome ignorance and tyranny.
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Her name was Neda Agha Soltan. And she had dreams.
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(Photo: Neda Agha Soltan)
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J Roquen