The demise of 26-year-old Neda Salehi Agha Soltan has, as noted in the below post, become symbolic of the current struggle.

As in political upheavals throughout history, a single image, quote, or in this instance, film, captures the cruelty of conflict for eternity.

The footage is displaying little signs of receding from the headlines, which renders the response of the Iranian regime all the more unfathomable, as it instructs Neda’s family to cease mourning, remove the mourning banners and posters, and ensured that the state-controlled media desist from mentioning her name.

More to the point, a public wake, funeral or memorial at the nearby mosque has also been banned.

According to friends, Neda was killed as she made her way with a group to a demonstration in Freedom Square in central Tehran.

Stuck in traffic on Karegar Street and they had got out for some air when a distant crack was heard and Neda collapsed to the ground.

Somewhat prophetically, when begged by her friends not to attend the demonstration, Neda replied that she was not afraid to die; rather “it’s just one bullet and then it’s over.”

In the absence of a public funeral mourners nonetheless travelled to Behesht Zahra cemetery on Sunday afternoon.

In a sickening turn, the mourners were placed under official orders not to sing her praises aloud nor mourn her loss.

In what name, I wonder, do such orders originate?

Not mourning, not remembering; the line between politics and religion has long since been blurred.