Iranian paramilitary forces have squelched demonstrations aimed at mourning Neda Agha Soltan, the 27-year-old philosophy student shot dead on the street in Tehran.

Their blockage of mournful demonstrations are evidence of a fear of Neda Agha Soltan becoming a martyr in the opposition's quest to challenge the alleged fraudulent election of Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, and radical clerical rule.

Too late. Not only has she already become a martyr to many in her country, she also has become a symbol of that quest to interested observers around the world.

The woman, who had just stepped out of a car moments before, was shot as she watched Iranian demonstrators stand up to the state.

Her death was captured on video, which has been seen hundreds of thousands of times on YouTube. Her picture is on Web sites all over the world.

Images are a powerful force. Today they can be transmitted and received around the globe virtually instantly.

U.S. President Barack Obama talked of the death during a news conference Tuesday.

"We have seen courageous women stand up to brutality and threats, and we have experienced the searing image of a woman bleeding to death on the streets," Obama said. "While this loss is raw and painful, we also know this: Those who stand up for justice are always on the right side of history."

Meanwhile, London's Guardian has reported that the family of Neda Agha Soltan has been ordered out of their Tehran home. The Guardian quoted neighbors as saying that Iranian police did not return her body to the family and buried her without telling the family where.

The Guardian also reported that the Iranian pro-government newspaper Javan has accused BBC correspondent Jon Leyne of hiring thugs to shoot Soltan so he could make a documentary film.

These ludicrous allegations, along with the death of Soltan, will only work against those in power.

The world has been watching with interest as events unfold in the aftermath of the election in Iran. Neda Agha Soltan's death has increased the scrutiny on Iran's rulers and has perhaps emboldened those Iranian citizens willing to continue to demonstrate.

Though an unwitting martyr, a martyr she has become - in a society infused with the culture of martyrdom.

Robin Wright of Time Magazine wrote: "The belief in martyrdom is central to modern politics as well as Shiite tradition dating back centuries in Iran. It too helped propel the 1979 revolution. It sustained Iran during the eight-year war with Iraq, when over 120,000 Iranians died in the bloodiest modern Middle East conflict. Most major Iranian cities have a martyr's museum or a martyr's cemetery."

The current uprising is a challenge to the radical cleric rule pursued in Iran since the Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini's 1979 revolution. It would indeed be ironic if that challenge gains further momentum through Neda Agha Soltan's status as a martyr.