Two teens brutally killed by Iran's morality cops during anti-hijab protests
TEHRAN, IRAN: Iran’s morality cops have allegedly killed two more girls in their recent crackdown against anti-hijab protests. One of the victims as per Amnesty International, “YouTuber Sarina Esmailzadeh, 16, died after security forces beat her round the head with batons.”
The news of her death was confirmed after the security officials handed over her body to the family. Sarina had been missing for over 10 days. The other teen, 17-year-old Nika Shakarmi's whereabouts were not known to her family after she last went to a protest rally in the capital Tehran on Tuesday, September 20.
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In a BBC interview, Nika’s aunt Atesh Shakrami told that the last time she saw her leave home was with a bottle of water and a towel, which they later figured out was to fight tear gas. In their last conversation over call, Nika had said that she was "running away from the security agents."
It was reported that her Instagram and Telegram accounts were deleted, and her mobile phone went off. The family then desperately looked for her in prisons, hospitals, and mortuary too.
Later authorities reached out to the family and revealed that a girl with a similar description was in the Kahrizak morgue. Reports claim, “Her body showed signs that her skull was fractured and her nose had been smashed.” The official reports suggest that she died due to falling from a height, a claim that Nika’s family rejects.
"The water bottle and mobile phone were arranged next to her for photography," the family alleges after seeing the dead body of their "fearless" daughter.
The human right agency Amnesty’s figures suggest, “At least 52 people have been killed in protests across Iran since the death of Mehsa Amini last month.” The activists in the country argue that the true number is over 300.
The recent wave of protests over harsh hijab strict rule in the country began when Mehsa, 22, from Kurdistan, was arrested by the fearsome morality police. The official claimed that she was wearing a hijab that didn’t cover her hair. During her arrest, she was rushed to hospital for suffering heart attack and was in coma.
Amnesty's Agnes Callamard said, “The Iranian authorities knowingly decided to harm or kill people who took to the streets to express their anger at decades of repression and injustice."