Neda Soltani

Neda Soltani (Persian: ندا سلطانی); born 1977, in Isfahan,[1] is an Iranian exile. During the 2009 Iranian election protests, she was teaching English at Azad University[2] when her Facebook profile photo was mistakenly published in many articles about the death of the similarly-named Neda Agha-Soltan, who was shot and killed during the protests.

As a result, her identity was confused with that of Agha-Soltan, to whom she also bore a superficial facial resemblance. She tried in vain to remove her photo from the Internet and the media. Claims and counter-claims were made, including claims from the Iranian government that she was the same person as Agha-Soltan, and had faked her own death, and others who claimed that she was herself an agent of the Iranian government, impersonating Agha-Soltan to sully her memory.[3]

Within two weeks, she had to flee from Iran to avoid arrest.[4] She was granted asylum in Germany in 2010.[5][6][7]

As of 2012, Soltani remains exiled from Iran, and is under Germany's asylum.[3]

She has authored a book, My Stolen Face, narrating her story of the incident.[8]