Neda's Boyfriend: 'This Movement Will Never Die'

"I still cannot believe it. I think I will see Neda again," the boyfriend of the iconic slain Iranian protester tells the Guardian in his first interview since fleeing the country. "Now I have left Iran, I can cry out," says Caspian Makan, who was tossed in the notorious Evin prison after telling foreign media about the government's efforts to crush the story of Neda Soltan, whose death, captured on cell phone, stoked global outrage at Tehran's violent tactics.

Neda was largely apolitical, Makan says, but became caught up in the ''green movement," and joined thousands of Iranians who flocked to the street when Mahmoud Ahmadinejad’s victory was announced. Makan argued she should stay home, but she was resolute, telling him, "Even if we'd had a child, I'd carry my child to these demos on my back." Under threat of further retribution Makan reluctantly fled Iran, but says he believes "this movement has not died out, and will never die out.” (More Iran stories.)