According to local media and the BBC, the mother and other family members of a girl who died during protests in Iran have been threatened into making “forced confessions” about the 16-year-death. old’s
During rallies in the capital over the passing of another young woman, Mahsa Amini, who passed away last month while being held by the police, Nika Shahkarami, who resided in Tehran with her mother, disappeared.
According to the Tasnim news agency, Nika was gone for a week until her body was recovered in a Tehran street and delivered to her family. Her relatives, however, have not yet been given an official explanation for how she passed away.
Iranian activists living abroad claim she passed away while in police custody, which caused her picture to become viral online and her name to be used as a hashtag in posts about the protest movement.
However, authorities have denied any wrongdoing.
Islamic Republic of Iran killed her in the protest over the murder of #MahsaAmini.#NikaShakarami 17, vanished during the protest.
After a week, security forces delivered her dead body with her nose fully smashed & her skull broken from multiple blows.#مهسا_امینی
#نیکا_شاکرمی pic.twitter.com/wMaRjeVSiR— Masih Alinejad 🏳️ (@AlinejadMasih) October 4, 2022
“I saw my daughter’s body myself,” Ms Shahkarami said in a video sent on Thursday to Radio Farda, a US-funded media outlet.
Authorities jailed Nika’s aunt Atash and uncle Mohsen after Atash spoke to the media and posted messages online about her niece’s passing.
In an interview with Atash that was aired on state television on Wednesday night, Atash said that Nika had died “falling from a structure.”
According to the BBC, while Nika’s uncle was speaking out against the turmoil on television, someone appeared to be whispering to him, “Say it, you scoundrel.”
According to a family source mentioned by BBC Persian, those interviews took place “after lengthy interrogations and threats that additional family members would be assassinated.”
The insider claims that the broadcasted statements were recorded before they were broadcast.
Global demonstrations have been prompted by the death of Ms. Amini, who was detained after being accused of wearing “unsuitable clothes” and passed away while still in detention three days later.
Nika’s death unleashed another outpouring of anger on Iranian social media.
2/On the evening of Sept 20, Nika called a friend on her way home & said she had joined the protests & burned her scarf. She never made it home.
Her phone was turned off & her What’sApp, Telegram & Instagram accounts were deactivated. She was missing for 10 days.#نیکا_شاکرمی pic.twitter.com/mKTb5XcEOs
— Masih Alinejad 🏳️ (@AlinejadMasih) October 4, 2022
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