Nika Shakarami’s relatives found her body in a detention center morgue.
On September 20, Nika Shakarami, 16, took to the streets of Tehran to join the protests over the death of Mahsa Amini, the young woman who died following being arrested by Iran’s “morality police”. She but she never came home.
After remaining missing for 10 days, her body was finally found by her family in a detention center morgue in the Iranian capital.
Her aunt Atash Shakarami told Parham Ghobadi of the BBC’s Persian service that before she disappeared, Nika had sent a message to a friend stating that the security forces were chasing her.
“When we went to identify her, we were not allowed to see her body, only her face for a few seconds,” Atash said.
The woman also revealed that, under duress, the family had agreed not to hold a public funeral in the Iranian capital, deciding instead to transfer Nika’s body to her father’s hometown of Khorramabad in the west of the country.
The transfer was made last Sunday, October 2, the date on which the young woman would have turned 17and the funeral was planned for Monday.
However, a source close to the family reported that the security forces “stole” Nika’s body from Khorramabad and secretly buried him in the village of Veysian, some 40 kilometers away.
Hundreds of protesters later gathered at the Khorramabad cemetery and chanted anti-government slogans, including “death to the dictator,” a reference to Iran’s supreme leader Ayatollah Khamenei.
Nika Shakarami’s body was “stolen” and secretly buried a day following what would have been her 17th birthday.
Last Wednesday, Atash appeared in a report on Iranian state television assuring that “Nika died following falling from a building”.
Nika’s uncle Mohsen was also filmed on state TV speaking out once morest the riots, as someone appears to whisper to him from off-camera: “Say it, you bastard!”
A source close to the family told the BBC that both were “forced statements” that were made.”following intense interrogations and threats that they would kill other members of the family.
For weeks there have been protests in Iran and abroad over the death of Mahsa Amini.
Atash and Mohsen were detained by authorities on Sunday following Atash posted messages online regarding her niece’s death and spoke to the media.
The televised statements were recorded before being published, according to the source.
Before her arrest, Atash told the BBC she had been told by the Revolutionary Guards that Nika was in their custody for five days and then handed over to prison authorities.
According to the Judiciary, the night she disappeared, Nika entered a building where there were eight construction workers and that she was found dead in the outer courtyard the next morning.
Tehran judicial official Mohammad Shahriari was quoted by state media as saying on Wednesday that an autopsy showed that Nika suffered “multiple fractures…in the pelvis, head, upper and lower extremities, arms and legs, which indicates that the person fell from a height.
He stated that this proves that his death had nothing to do with the protests.
However, a death certificate issued by a cemetery in the capital, obtained by the BBC’s Persian service, states that he died following suffering “multiple injuries caused by hits with a hard object“.
Nika’s Instagram and Telegram accounts were deleted following she disappeared, according to Atash.
Iranian security forces have been known to demand that detainees give them access to social media accounts so they can delete them or delete certain posts.
Wednesday night’s state television report also featured footage showing Atash confirming that her niece’s body was found outside the aforementioned building by the Judiciary, despite contradicting earlier statements made by her and other family members.
Hadis Najafi, 22, and Sarina Esmailzadeh, 16, died following participating in protests in the city of Karaj.
Other deaths
According to Parham Ghobadi, of the BBC’s Persian service, Nika is not the only young protester who has died during the riots that broke out last month following the death of Mahsa Amini, the 22-year-old woman who was arrested by the morality police for allegedly violating the Islamic Republic’s strict hijab law.
The family of Hadith Najafi, 22, has said she was shot dead by security forces while protesting in the city of Karaj, west of Tehran, on September 21.
Officials reportedly asked his father to say that he had died of a heart attack.
Another 16 year old Sarina Esmailzadehdied following being severely beaten on the head with batons by security forces during protests in Karaj on 23 September, according to a source cited by Amnesty International.
The source also told the human rights body that security and intelligence agents had harassed the teenager’s family to force them to remain silent.
Several videos made by Sarina before her death have been posted on social media. In one, recorded following finishing school exams, she says, “Nothing feels better than freedom.”
