Family in Iran forced to lie about Anti-Hijab protester’s death amid revolution: Report

The family of a girl who died during the anti-Hijab protests in Iran have allegedly been forced into making false statements related to her death. The 16-year-old Nika Shakarami went missing in Tehran on September 20. Before going missing, she informed a friend that she was being chased by Iran’s police.  

A report by BBC Persian revealed that Iran’s judiciary stated that on the night of her disappearance, Nika went into a building where eight construction workers were present. Following this, she was found dead in the yard outside the next morning.  

Following the incident, a state TV report on Wednesday night showed Nika Shakarami's aunt, Atash, saying: "Nika was killed falling from a building”. Moreover, Nika’s uncle was also seen on TV speaking against the raging protests in Iran, as someone seems to whisper to him: "Say it, you scumbag!”  

Nika’s aunt Atash stated that prior to her arrest on Sunday, Iran’s Revolutionary Guards had informed her that Nika was in their custody for five days and then handed over to prison authorities.  

Women protesting Iran’s draconian Hijab laws  

Iran was plunged into nationwide protests following the death of 22-year-old Mahsa Amini, a Kurdish woman who was killed in Iran’s morality police’s custody. As per the reports, the police officers arrested Amini for wearing the Islamic headscarf 'too loose'. The woman’s family alleged that the officers beat Amini’s head with a baton and banged her head against one of their vehicles following her arrest. However, the authorities have claimed that there is no evidence of any mistreatment and that Amini suffered "sudden heart failure” leading to her death.  

As the news of the incident spread, women across Iran staged demonstrations by ceremoniously removing their headscarves in public and cutting their hair to protest the strict rules pertaining to the attire of women and their general behaviour in the country that is enforced by Iran’s government.    

Furthermore, Iran Human Rights, a Norwegian NGO, stated that at least 133 people had been killed in Iran so far amid the protests. Meanwhile, the Iranian authorities have vowed to punish the protestors, claiming that a plot by Iran's foreign adversaries is responsible for their actions.