'Bullet Fee'

'BULLET FEE'.... Talk about adding insult to injury.

Neda Agha-Soltan, a young woman shot and killed in Iran on Saturday, became an international symbol when video of her death went online. Yesterday, Iranian officials ordered her family to bury her "immediately and barred family members from holding a memorial service." Making matters even worse, "Authorities even asked the family to take down the black mourning banners in front of their house, aware of the potent symbol she had become."

Tragically, Neda was hardly the only victim. The Wall Street Journal reports today what happened to 19-year-old Kaveh Alipour, and the consequences for his family.

On Saturday, amid the most violent clashes between security forces and protesters, Mr. Alipour was shot in the head as he stood at an intersection in downtown Tehran. He was returning from acting class and a week shy of becoming a groom, his family said.The details of his death remain unclear. He had been alone. Neighbors and relatives think that he got trapped in the crossfire. He wasn't politically active and hadn't taken part in the turmoil that has rocked Iran for over a week, they said. [...]

Upon learning of his son's death, the elder Mr. Alipour was told the family had to pay an equivalent of $3,000 as a "bullet fee" -- a fee for the bullet used by security forces -- before taking the body back, relatives said.

The Alipour family refused to pay the fee, and morgue officials eventually caved, but "demanded that the family do no funeral or burial in Tehran."

Iranian protestors "hate the Khamenei-Ahmadinejad regime." There's no shortage of reasons for that.