GENEVA — The boyfriend of an Iranian woman, who became an opposition icon after images of her death at a Tehran protest spread across the Internet, says the event has turned him into a staunch activist.

A year ago, “I wouldn’t have thought that I would be here,” Caspian Makan told AFP on the sidelines of a human rights conference in Geneva.

“It changed my life, I’m very active right now I’m going to be more of an activist,” said the writer and documentary maker after he fled Iran and found refuge in Canada.

“I lost my love, I lost my country, I miss everybody, my family, my job,” added Makan, speaking through an interpreter.

The killing of Neda Agha-Soltan on June 20, 2009 came to symbolise the public uprising against President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad’s victory earlier that month in presidential elections the opposition says were rigged.

A graphic mobile phone video of her bleeding to death on the ground was seen around the world, triggering an outcry over the sometimes brutal crackdown on demonstrators.

Makan appeared at the Geneva conference alongside dissidents from China, Cuba, Myanmar, North Korea and Zimbabwe.

“The whole world was witness to the acts of this regime. It was a painful, inhuman act that revealed the dark face of the Iranian dictatorship,” he told delegates.

His 26 year-old partner’s killing was a “murder” carried out by “mercenaries of the regime,” he claimed.

“Her conscience and her courage became symbols for freedom, symbols that gave hope to thousands of Iranians.”

After her death, Makan was interviewed by foreign media, including the BBC and Al-Jazeera. This is what he believes marked him out: six days later, he was arrested at home.

“I wanted to tell the world the truth and what happened to Neda,” the dapper 38 year-old sighed.

Freed with the help of her family from Evin prison after 65 days of questioning, Makan decided to flee.

He managed to reach another Middle Eastern country, which he preferred not to name, and early this year he was granted political asylum in Canada.