Iranians defy authorities to mourn those slain in the unrest: Via Los Angeles Times.

Thousands flood a Tehran cemetery on the 40th day since the killing of Neda Agha-Soltan. Their defiance sets the stage for protests next week, when President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad is to be sworn in.

Reporting from Tehran and Beirut -- Protesters swarmed Tehran's main cemetery and fanned out across a large swath of the capital Thursday, defying truncheons and tear gas to publicly mourn those killed during weeks of unrest, including a young woman whose death shocked people around the world.

The protests marked the 40th day since the shooting of Neda Agha-Soltan was captured on video and posted on the Internet. For Shiite Muslims, the 40th day has religious importance, often an occasion for an outpouring of emotion and grief.
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'United for Neda' is artists' song for Iranian people: Via CNN.com .

(CNN) -- Spurred by the continuing political unrest in Iran, more than two dozen Iranian expatriate superstars are uniting to spread a musical message of non-violent resistance.
The entertainers, poets, thinkers and actors are harmonizing on the song "United for Neda," a call to action against human rights violations by the Iranian government against Iranians protesting the disputed outcome of recent presidential elections.

The song was inspired by the plight of Neda Agha-Soltan, the 26-year old Iranian woman who was fatally shot on the streets of Tehran on June 20. The ordeal was recorded on cell phone video and received international attention when it hit the Internet.

"When I saw links to Neda being shot, it was so disturbing to me," said Iranian-British recording artist Mams Taylor, who wrote and produced the song.

"It hurt me, angered me and touched me at the same time, to think that these people are so courageous to go and seek their freedom," said Taylor.

While her death became a rallying point for justice, her name, "Neda," in Farsi means "the call/calling" or "voice" -- a voice many people say cannot be muted.
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Who was Neda? Slain woman an unlikely martyr: Via CNN .

TEHRAN, Iran (CNN) -- The young woman who last weekend emerged as a powerful symbol of opposition to the Iranian government embraced life in many ways, but there was little about her that would have led her friends to predict she would become a martyr, one of them told CNN.

Neda Agha-Soltan, 26, rose to prominence within hours after a crudely shot video documenting her final moments was uploaded to the Web shortly after she died Saturday from a single gunshot wound to the chest.

"It's heartbreaking," President Obama said Tuesday in Washington, referring to the video of the woman the world has come to know simply as Neda, which means "divine calling" in Farsi. "And I think anyone who sees it knows there's something fundamentally unjust about it."
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