Videos posted online showed Iranian Nika Shakarami participating in a protest hours before her death. Shakarami, 16, is seen standing on top of a garbage can and burning her headscarf in Tehran, Iran’s capital.
The young girl called her friend after the protest and stated that she was being chased by a police officer. Her body was handed over to her family 10 days later with her nose crushed and her skull broken from the blows.
Her family also claimed that their daughter’s body was stolen by the security forces. Sources close to the family told the BBC that the body was abducted from Khorramabad, the hometown of the young girl’s father, and sent to the nearby town of Veysian.
MOTHER HOLDS SECURITY FORCES RESPONSIBLE FOR DEATH OF Daughter
Shakarami’s mother, Nesrin Shakarami, told the BBC Persian service that the security forces had accused her of killing her daughter. However, authorities claimed that the girl died after being thrown from a building under construction, possibly by workers.
The photo shows 16-year-old Nika Shakarami, whose family claims she was killed by security forces.Last week, Iranian state television broadcast blurred footage of Nika walking down a street and entering a building under construction through a door.
However, Nesrin Shakarami said that the person in the video is not her daughter. Another source close to the family said that the people in the video did not walk like Nika.
FORCE THE FAMILY TO MAKE WRONG STATEMENTS
Nesrin Shakarami also claimed that her sister Atash and brother Mohsen were forced to make false statements about Nika’s death while in custody.
“The security forces threatened to detain my Brother’s four-year-old child,” said Anne Shakarami.
On the other hand, Nika Shakarami’s family said they found the young girl’s body in the morgue 10 days after she disappeared and the authorities only allowed them to see her face for a few seconds to identify her. Atash also stated that the Revolutionary Guards told him that Nika was detained for five days and then handed over to the prison authorities.
It was claimed that the body of the 16-year-old girl was smuggled.Nesrin Shakarami also said that Nika disappeared hours after participating in the protest, which was seen in videos that appeared on social media in recent days.
In one of the videos, Nika Saharami is rocking a burning headscarf over a garbage can. A crowd around him shouts “death to the dictator”, referring to Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, who has the last word in all state matters. Another video shows the scene from a different angle.
منبعی نزدیک به خانواده #نیکا_شاکرمی تایید کرد که دختری که در این ویدیو روسریاش را آتش میزند خود نیکا است.#مهسا_امینی pic.twitter.com/j0hnq83e6n
— Parham Ghobadi (@BBCParham) October 10, 2022
Nesrin Shakarami said, “Like Nika, I have been against compulsory hijab since childhood. But my generation was not brave enough to protest. People my age accepted for years of oppression, slander and humiliation, but my daughter protested and she had the right to do so.”
GENERATION Z TAKES PART IN THE FRONT STAGES OF MAHSA AMIN PROTESTS
On the other hand, “Generation Z”, defined as those born between 1997 and 2012, were at the forefront of the protests fueled by the death of 22-year-old Mahsa Amini, who was detained by the morality police for allegedly violating the rules of the Islamic Republic.
The death of 22-year-old Mahsa Amini on September 16, who fell ill and was taken to hospital after being detained by the Irshad patrols known as the “morality police” in Tehran on September 13, caused outrage in the country.28 CHILDREN DIE IN PROTESTS IN IRAN
Nika was not the only young protester killed during these protests. The family of Hadith Najafi, 22, said she was shot dead by security forces on September 21 while protesting in the city of Karaj, west of Tehran.
Another 16-year-old girl, Sarina Esmailzadeh, died on 23 September after being severely beaten on the head with batons by security forces during protests in Karaj, according to Amnesty International.
Iran Child Rights Protection Association reported that a total of 28 children were killed during the protests in the country. The group announced that many other children were also arrested and held in detention centres.