Girl (16) assaulted and beaten to death by Iranian security forces after arrest during protest

A 16-year-old Iranian girl who disappeared during protests against the regime did not – as the official version read – commit suicide, but was assaulted and killed by three members of the Iranian security services. The BBC reports this, based on a leaked document.

Nika Shakarami (16) was shadowed during protests in September 2022 because she acted like a leader. Shortly before her disappearance, she called a friend to say that she was being chased by officers. After her arrest, she was secretly transported in a refrigerated truck.

There, one of the men sat on her while he harassed her. The teenager was handcuffed, but resisted by kicking and cursing. The men then beat her with sticks until she died. Her body was eventually dumped on the street.

Shakarami’s family found her body in a morgue nine years after her disappearance. Authorities said her death was unrelated to the protests and that she had taken her own life.

However, that version of events is contradicted by the “highly confidential” report that the BBC was able to see: it is a summary of a hearing by the Iranian Revolutionary Guard, which also functions as a moral police. The report mentions the names of the perpetrators and the officers who wanted to cover up the case.