Iran: Nose smashed, skull pounded; security forces return the body of another young woman

Iran – Iranian security forces returned the body of another young woman, identified as Nika Shakarami, to her family with suspicious injuries, nine days after she went missing during a protest over the death of Mahsa Amini in Tehran, the capital of Iran.

On 20 September, 17-year-old Shakarami took part in anti-government and anti-hijab protests on Keshavarz Boulevard in Tehran. She vanished during protests. According to The Telegraph report, Shakarami said in her last phone call to a friend that she was fleeing security forces. Subsequently, her family searched all prisons, detention centres, police stations, and Kahrizak’s forensics office to find her. On 29 September, the Shakarami family was informed about her death. Her nose was smashed and her skull pounded. Iranian authorities informed her family that she had fallen from a height. Her family was not allowed to see her head when they went to identify the body as it was pounded by a heavy object. Her family was told not to hold a memorial service for their slain daughter.

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Protests across Iran erupted after the death of 22-year-old Amini. She was detained by the morality police of Iran for allegedly breaching rules requiring women to wear hijabs and modest clothes. According to human rights activists, security forces killed her as her hair was not covered. 

The protests have now spread to 164 cities in all 31 provinces. An estimated 15,000 protesters have been arrested and detained. According to the Iran Human Rights Organization, more than 90 people have been killed in the crackdown.

Recently, IHR director, Mahmood Amiry-Moghaddam, urged the international community to take urgent steps against Iran to stop the killing of Iranian protesters at the hand of Iranian security forces. Earlier, Hengaw Organisation for Human Rights said that Iranian security forces shot protesters during demonstrations in Iran’s Kurdish region.