Neda Soltan's Family: Forced from home, No body, No funeral

As reports of today's accelerated violence in Iran are leaking out with little notice in the media, come the reports that Neda Soltan's family has been forced from their home. Neda's body has not been returned to the family and funeral services are forbidden.

Neda Soltan's Family Home

Neighbors say they do not know where the family has gone. They only know that the Soltan's were forced to leave their apartment building. The BBC reports that neighbors have received phone calls "warning them not to discuss her [Neda] death. This from neighbors:

We are trembling," one neighbour said. "We are still afraid. We haven't had a peaceful time in the last days, let alone her family. Nobody was allowed to console her family, they were alone, they were under arrest and their daughter was just killed. I can't imagine how painful it was for them. Her friends came to console her family but the police didn't let them in and forced them to disperse and arrested some of them. Neda's family were not even given a quite moment to grieve."

Another man said many would have turned up to show their sympathy had it not been for the police.

"In Iran, when someone dies, neighbours visit the family and will not let them stay alone for weeks but Neda's family was forced to be alone, otherwise the whole of Iran would gather here," he said. "The government is terrible, they are even accusing pro-Mousavi people of killing Neda and have just written in their websites that Neda is a Basiji (government militia) martyr. That's ridiculous – if that's true why don't they let her family hold any funeral or ceremonies? Since the election, you are not able to trust one word from the government." A shopkeeper said he had often met Soltan, who used to come to his store.

"She was a kind, innocent girl. She treated me well and I appreciated her behaviour. I was surprised when I found out that she was killed by the riot police. I knew she was a student as she mentioned that she was going to university. She always had a nice peaceful smile and now she has been sacrificed for the government's vote-rigging in the presidential election."

Atlas Shrugs has news that almost went unreported today. Read it here. Background: Neda: The Voice of the Iranian People