Iran's Judiciary Makes New Claims About Murdered Teen In Latest Denial
In a bid to deny the latest revelations about the state murder of teenager Nika Shakarami, Iran's judiciary released new pictures and claims about her death.
On Thursday, the judiciary's news agency, Mizan, released pictures of a woman's torso, concealing the head, without specifying the exact location, and claiming it belonged to Nika Shakarami. The so-called report cited the judge assigned to the case, who said that a day after Shakarami went missing, they got a call about a body found in a courtyard.
CCTV footage from an alley was also included in Mizan's report, supposedly showing Shakarami entering the building, but Nika's mother told BBC Persian she could not "under any circumstances, confirm that person is Nika."
The report details there being a backpack on a nearby roof and a mobile phone playing music when the body was found, suggesting she had jumped to her own death, but saying it was "impossible to identify the body because it had no identification."
Mizan claims security forces identified Shakarami after her mother reported that she was missing in September 2022 amid the uprising sparked by the death in morality-police custody of Mahsa Amini.
However, the report failed to mention why Shakarami had access to this seemingly random building since Iranian households' roofs are heavily protected and not easily accessible to strangers. Mizan claims that local residents heard a loud noise around 5am which they allegedly thought “was a cat,” a claim not readily accepted since a human body falling from the roof would have more impact.
As reported by the BBC on Tuesday, 16-year-old Shakarami was sexually assaulted and murdered by members of Iran's security forces after being arrested for having burnt her hijab in public.
Slamming the reports on Iran International, BBC, and CNN about the murder as “fake,” Mizan branded reports as “unverified news” and “fabricating false information.”
Four days after Amini was killed, videos appeared showing Shakarami setting fire to her hijab at a protest in Tehran. The young girl then suddenly vanished, authorities informing the family nine days later that her body had been found, and claiming that she had committed suicide.
The BBC report this week detailed how Shakarami was killed by Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) forces, citing a "very confidential" document addressed to the organization’s commander-in-chief. Names of her killers and senior commanders who tried to conceal the truth were included.
The BBC report cites the teen was sexually assaulted in the back of the security guards van after her arrest. Quoting the forces themselves in the report, one of them “had his hands down her pants.”
According to the BBC's account, one officer physically restrained and assaulted Shakarami while she resisted, resulting in a fatal response with batons.
Shakarami's death came amid the biggest challenge to Iran's theocratic regime since the founding of the Islamic Republic.
According to Iran Human Rights, throughout the months-long rallies which began in September 2022, 551 protesters, including 68 children and 49 women, were killed by the security forces. There have also been 22 protesters who have died by suicide or under suspicious circumstances, among them four children and eight women.
On Thursday, the UN called the BBC investigation into the death of Shakarami “very very troubling”. The UN fact-finding mission in March announced the Iranian regime committed crimes against humanity by cracking down on the 2022 protests, such as by killing, incarcerating, torturing, and sexually assaulting protesters.