Killing of Nika Shakarami

Source: Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.
(Redirected from
Nika Shakarami
)

Death of Nika Shakarami
Date20 September 2022
LocationTehran, Iran
BurialHayat ol Gheyb
SuspectsIranian security forces

On 20 September 2022, 16-year-old Iranian girl Nika Shakarami (Persian: نیکا شاکرمی) disappeared in Tehran during the 2022 Iranian protests following the death of Mahsa Amini. Her family was informed of her death ten days later. She had died under suspicious circumstances suspected to involve violence by security forces. After her body was identified by her family, they planned to bury her in Khorramabad, but the body was allegedly stolen by Iranian authorities and instead buried in Hayat ol Gheyb, reportedly to exercise leverage over her family and to avoid a funeral procession which could cause further protests.

The Iranian authorities denied wrongdoing, spread several contradictory stories concerning her fate, and allegedly coerced some of her family members to support these narratives. Shakarami's death and the attempts of government suppression regarding information on her fate was widely publicized in international media and further fanned the ongoing protests.

Her official cause of death was later described as blunt force trauma in a Behesh-e Zahra document.[1]

Shakarami, Sarina Esmailzadeh and Hadis Najafi, according to media sources, became the new faces of the ongoing protests in Iran, and their pictures appeared on posters, that were secretly plastered on the walls in Iranian cities.[2]

Background

Nika Shakarami was born on 2 October 2005[3] in Khorramabad, Lorestan province, to a Lur family.[4][5] Little is publicly known of her background.[6] She had family ties to Khorramabad in southwestern Iran,[6] the city having been her father's hometown.[3] She was the second child in the family.[4] Shakarami lived with her aunt[7][8] in Tehran, the capital of Iran,[7][9] and worked in a coffee shop.[7] She moved to Tehran after the death of her father.[4]

Disappearance and death

Shakarami participated in the Mahsa Amini protests of September 2022, sparked by the death of Mahsa Amini in police custody and aimed at increasing women's rights in Iran. Shakarami went missing after protesting on Keshavarz Boulevard[10] in Tehran on 20 September.[3] She had left her house around 13:00 UTC and brought with her a bottle of water and a towel as protection against tear gas.[8] She initially told her family that she was going to visit her sister.[11]

According to Shakarami's family, the last known communication was a message sent to one of her friends in which she said she was being chased by security forces.[3][9][12] Apparently, she had been separated from her friends as the protests grew more crowded.[7] Her friends last saw her around 15:00 UTC.[13] On the night of 20 September, Shakarami's Telegram and Instagram accounts were deleted and her phone was turned off.[9][11] According to CNN, on 12 October, her Telegram account was briefly reactivated, likely by Iranian authorities, and family members confirmed that Shakarami's phone was in the possession of the prosecutor's office in Tehran. Iranian state media also reported that authorities had accessed direct messages on her Instagram account.[14]

On 27 October 2022, CNN released footage of Nika Shakarami's last hours during the protests.[15] In one video she can be seen hiding behind cars in traffic, saying to a driver "Don't move, don't move", implying that she was targeted and had been chased. The person who provided the video to CNN said they saw Nika being arrested and put into a police van.[15]

After not hearing from her, Shakarami's family filed a missing person's report[11] and began searching police stations and hospitals.[12] They also posted pictures of her on social media in the hope that someone would recognize her.[7] Ten days later[3] they were informed that someone with similar characteristics had been discovered during forensic examinations of dead protesters[16] and her body was at the Kahrizak morgue,[9] located in a local detention center.[3] Shakarami's family members were not allowed to see the body, only to look at her face for a few seconds for identification purposes.[3] The authorities reportedly informed them that she had died as a result of falling from a great height.[16] They were shown a photograph of her lifeless body at a sidewalk to illustrate this but they found the picture to be suspicious.[9][10] Shakarami's aunt claimed in an interview that Shakarami's nose had been completely destroyed and that her skull had been "broken and disintegrated from multiple blows of a hard object",[12] perhaps a baton.[7][10][16] The family were told that Shakarami had been kidnapped, held, and questioned by the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps[12] and had then been detained for a short time at the Evin Prison,[8][12] a prison which has frequently been accused of systematically raping and torturing prisoners.[8][17][18][19]

Burial

The family transported Shakarami's body to Khorramabad for burial, intending to hold the ceremony on 2 October, which would have been her seventeenth birthday. The family however claims that security forces pressured them into not holding a funeral ceremony and instead bury her in silence.[20] Shakarami's aunt defied such pressure and posted on Twitter, inviting anyone interested to join the celebration of Shakarami's "last birthday".[21] Shakarami's aunt and uncle were arrested shortly thereafter in their home on 2 October and other family members were threatened that she would be executed if they participated in the protests.[3] The rest of the family were also pressured to agree to not organize a public funeral ceremony.[21]

Despite reaching an agreement that there would be no funeral,[21] Shakarami's family further claim that the authorities then stole Shakarami's body and buried her in Hayat ol Gheyb,[22] about 40 kilometres (25 miles) away,[3][12][23] in order to avoid publicity[21] and prevent her grave becoming a pilgrimage site for protesters.[20] Iranian authorities have previously used the bodies of dead protesters to silence their families.[11][23][24]

Images of Shakarami's tombstone show this poem carved on it: "Gave birth to you with blood and pain, Gave you back to the motherland",[25] which reiterates that her death was not a suicide, but she died for her country.

Day 40 of her death

On day 40 of her death, large crowd gathered at her burial site, even though she is buried in a small village far from the city. They mostly chanted the slogans of protests and sang an old famous song in Luri "دایه دایه وقت جنگه" ("Oh mother, mother, it's time to fight"). Shakarami's mother gave a speech addressing Nika "I will for ever be in agony for your sufferings, but I love you. When I see that pure seed of your thinking – freedom, courage and honour blossoms in the hearts of other loved ones, I am happy and grateful."[26][27]

Video showed guards had attempted to prevent people from attending the ceremony by blocking a bridge, the security forces also fired teargas on people who fought back by throwing stones, and gunshots were audible in video shared on social media.[28][29][30] At her memorial ceremony, people attending chanted "We are all Nika, fight and we will fight back."[31]

Reactions

Nika Shakarami, Mahsa Amini, Fereshteh Ahmadi, and Sarina Esmaielzahdeh
in Jerusalem

Hundreds of protesters gathered in the cemetery of Khorramabad on the day Shakarami's funeral would have been held, spurred into action by the theft of her body.[3][12][23] Activists accused the Iranian government of abusing, torturing and killing Shakarami.[9] The news of her death led to high school girls joining the anti-government protests in large numbers on 4 October,[32] some symbolically removing their hijabs in further defiance of the government. The schoolgirls joining the protests was called an "unprecedented show of support" by David Gritten of BBC News.[33] An article by Miriam Berger in The Washington Post described Shakarami's death and the attempt by the authorities to cover it up as "[giving the] demonstrators another rallying cry".[11] According to Mahmood Amiry-Moghaddam, the director of the Iran Human Rights organization, "The available evidence indicates the government's role in Nika Shakrami's murder; Unless the opposite is proven by an independent fact-finding commission under the supervision of the United Nations. Until such a committee is formed, the responsibility for Nika's murder, like the other victims of the current protests, rests with Ali Khamenei and the forces under his command."[34]

The death of Shakarami and the theft of her body was widely reported on in the international media.[3][9][12][23] She was also widely commemorated on social media,[9] where her photo and name were circulated and her name became a hashtag used by the women's rights movement.[35] BBC correspondent Nafiseh Kohnavard commemorated Shakarami by posting a video on Twitter of Shakarami standing on a stage, singing and laughing.[36] The song sung by Shakarami in the clip is an old Iranian love song from the film Soltane Ghalbha (1968).[20] The BBC also shared videos of Shakarami speaking at the recent protests prior to her death.[9]

Alleged forced confession from aunt and uncle

Shakarami's aunt, Atash Shakarami, and Shakarami's uncle, Mohsen Shakarami were arrested in their homes on October 2, 2022 after publicizing Nika's suspicious death on social media, they were allegedly forced to make a false confession saying Nika had committed suicide and security forces had no involvement in her death via the state-run television at 8:30 local time, October 5, 2022.[37][38][39][40][41][42]

Iranian state television aired interviews or "a confession" wherein Shakarami's aunt and uncle "corroborated" the government's narrative. During the confession or interview, her aunt stated that Shakarami had fallen from a roof[11] and her uncle lamented Shakarami's brutal and suspicious death but also expressed doubt that the authorities were responsible, citing religious and legal hurdles, instead blaming social media radicalization and suggesting that she had been killed by protesters from Lorestan wishing to inspire more protests in Lorestan itself. In response to the previous anti-government statements of Shakarami's aunt, who had previously strongly blamed her death on the authorities, he dismissed her as "not a political person". He also claimed that burying Shakarami in Veysian rather than in Tehran had been the family's choice due to worries that "her killer" was in Tehran and could disturb the ceremony.[4]

The interview was reportedly filmed while they were still in government custody.[38] Video of the interview with Shakarami's uncle also showed the silhouette of a person off-camera who could be heard whispering "Say it, you scumbag!"[11][38][43]

In an interview with BBC News, Shakarami's mother criticized the government's attempts to cover up their involvement in Nika's death and said the interviews conducted with her brother and sister were done under coercion.[22][11][44] Shakarami's mother mentioned that she and other family members had also been intimidated in an attempt to force them to corroborate the official narrative.[11] According to Shakarami's mother, she had seen a medical report that showed that Shakarami had died on 20 September, the same day she went missing, due to blunt force trauma to the head.[44] A death certificate issued by a cemetery in Tehran also stated that Shakarami died after "multiple injuries caused by blows with a hard object".

Islamic Republic's reaction

The authorities or government did not initially publicly comment on Shakarami's death.[11] The state-owned Iranian news agency Islamic Republic News Agency has reported that the authorities have opened their own investigation into Shakarami's death.[45] On 4 October, the Tasnim News Agency, a news agency closely associated with the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, reported that Shakarami had fallen to her death on 21 September from a building and that eight workers in this building had been arrested.[11][46] Authorities used a similar suicide by jumping narrative concerning the death of another 16-year-old, Sarina Esmailzadeh, who died, according to Amnesty International, after reportedly being severely beaten by police with batons.[47][43] The state-owned Fars News Agency released video footage supposedly showing Shakarami entering the building, but the person in the footage is not identifiable.[11][46] Dariush Shahoonvand, prosecutor in the Lorestan province, denied any wrongdoing on the part of Iranian authorities and claimed that Shakarami had been buried in "her village" and that "foreign enemies" were to blame for creating a "tense and fearful atmosphere" following her death,[9][35] though he did not elaborate further on what he meant.[35]

According to

IRNA news agency, quoting the head of criminal prosecution of Tehran province: "In the autopsy tests and examination of the body, traces of fractures were observed". Also, according to the inquiries received, the person was thrown down." He also mentioned: "There were no traces of bullets or Shot (pellet) in the body."[48]

See also

References

  1. ^ "انتشار سندی جدید از قتل نیکا شاکرمی و ادامه اعتراضات شبانه – DW – ۱۴۰۱/۷/۱۳". dw.com (in Persian). Retrieved 5 February 2023.
  2. ^ Fassihi, Farnaz (13 October 2022). "How Two Teenagers Became the New Faces of Iran's Protests". The New York Times. Archived from the original on 23 October 2022.
  3. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k Ghobadi, Parham (4 October 2022). "Iran: Teen protester Nika Shakarami's body stolen, sources say". BBC News. Archived from the original on 5 October 2022. Retrieved 4 October 2022.
  4. ^ a b c d "جزئیات جدید مرگ مشکوشاکرمی | دمینسپسمسخپبه تظاهرات رفته باشد اما ... | جمجمه و سر او متلاشی شده است | چرا پیکر نیکا در تهران دفن نشد؟". Hamshahri (in Persian). 4 October 2022. Archived from the original on 5 October 2022. Retrieved 5 October 2022.
  5. ^ "سیامند معینی: لازم است مبارزە خلقها در جهت انسجام گام بردارد". ANF News (in Persian). Retrieved 14 April 2023.
  6. ^ a b Daragahi, Borzou (4 October 2022). "Editor's letter: We can only be in awe of young women such as Nika Shakarami". The Independent. Archived from the original on 4 October 2022. Retrieved 4 October 2022.
  7. ^ a b c d e f "نیکا شاکرمی، نوجوان ۱۷ ساله‌ای که پیکرش پس از ۸ روز پیدا شد". Radio Zamaneh (in Persian). 30 September 2022. Archived from the original on 6 October 2022. Retrieved 5 October 2022.
  8. ^ a b c d Ali, Haniya (5 October 2022). "İran'da Mahsa Amini protestolarında hayatını kaybeden genç kadınlar". BBC News Türkçe (in Turkish). Archived from the original on 5 October 2022. Retrieved 5 October 2022.
  9. ^
    ISSN 2195-1349. Archived from the original
    on 5 October 2022. Retrieved 4 October 2022.
  10. ^ a b c "Iran: Nose smashed, skull pounded; security forces return body of another young woman with suspicious injuries". Firstpost. 2 October 2022. Archived from the original on 6 October 2022. Retrieved 4 October 2022.
  11. ^
    ISSN 0190-8286. Archived from the original
    on 6 October 2022. Retrieved 6 October 2022.
  12. ^ a b c d e f g h "Iran authorities 'stole' body of beaten teen Nika Shakarami". The National News. 4 October 2022. Archived from the original on 5 October 2022. Retrieved 4 October 2022.
  13. ^ "پیکر آسیب دیده دختر معترض و مفقود به خانواده‌اش تحویل شد". Iranwire (in Persian). Archived from the original on 3 October 2022. Retrieved 5 October 2022.
  14. ^ Polglase, Katie; Mezzofiore, Gianluca (19 December 2022). "Iran's government accesses the social media accounts of those it detains. Tech companies appear ill-equipped to stop it". CNN. Retrieved 1 January 2023.
  15. ^ a b Videos show Iranian teen protester's final hours, retrieved 27 October 2022
  16. ^ a b c Joshi, Ritika (4 October 2022). "Teenager Killed In Iran Protests As Death Toll Rises". SheThePeople. Archived from the original on 6 October 2022. Retrieved 4 October 2022.
  17. ^ Mackey, Robert (28 August 2009). "Iranians Say Prison Rape Is Not New". The Lede. The New York Times. Archived from the original on 16 March 2022. Retrieved 5 October 2022.
  18. ^ Dehghan, Saeed Kamali (24 June 2011). "Iran giving out condoms for criminals to rape us, say jailed activists". The Guardian. Archived from the original on 22 October 2022.
  19. ^ Esfandiari, Golnaz (31 May 2011). "Women Share Stories of Sexual Abuse in Iranian Prisons". Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty. Archived from the original on 23 October 2022.
  20. ^ a b c Mazza, Viviana (4 October 2022). "L'ultimo sfregio a Nika Shakarami, che cantava senza il velo ed è stata uccisa in Iran". Corriere della Sera (in Italian). Archived from the original on 5 October 2022. Retrieved 5 October 2022.
  21. ^ a b c d Basiak, Paweł (4 October 2022). "Brutalnie zabili nastolatkę. Potem wykradli jej ciało". Interia Wydarzenia (in Polish). Archived from the original on 5 October 2022. Retrieved 5 October 2022.
  22. ^ a b "م ادر نیکا شاکرمی: می‌خواستند از من اعتراف بگیرند و بگویند خودکشی بوده". BBC News فارسی (in Persian). 6 October 2022. Archived from the original on 6 October 2022. Retrieved 6 October 2022.
  23. ^ a b c d Botsjö, Markus (4 October 2022). "Regimen stal 16-åriga Nikas kropp". Aftonbladet (in Swedish). Archived from the original on 5 October 2022. Retrieved 4 October 2022.
  24. ^ "Ιράν: Οι Αρχές έκλεψαν τη σορό 16χρονης διαδηλώτριας - Την έθαψαν κρυφά από την οικογένειά της". Proto Thema (in Greek). 4 October 2022. Archived from the original on 5 October 2022. Retrieved 5 October 2022.
  25. ^ "سنگ مزار نیکا شاکرمی؛ به خون جگر زادمت، به مام وطن دادمت". ایران اینترنشنال (in Persian). Retrieved 24 October 2022.
  26. ^ Wintour, Patrick (27 October 2022). "Iran protests reignite at funerals and commemorations for those killed". The Guardian. Retrieved 28 October 2022.
  27. ^ "نیکا، با پرپر شدنت بذر شهامت را در دل‌ها شکوفا کردی". www.iran-emrooz.net (in Persian). Retrieved 27 October 2022.
  28. ^ "تداوم خیزش سراسری؛ مادر نیکا در چهلم دخترش: با پرپر شدنت بذر شهامت را در دل‌ها شکوفا کردی". ایران اینترنشنال (in Persian). Retrieved 27 October 2022.
  29. ^ حمله مأموران به مراسم چهلم نیکا شاکرمی در لرستان و مقاومت حاضران با پرتاب سنگ (in Persian), retrieved 27 October 2022
  30. ^ Pourahmadi, Adam; Salem, Mostafa; Alkhaldi, Celine (27 October 2022). "Iran security forces crack down on mourners at Nika Shahkarami ceremony". CNN. Retrieved 27 October 2022.
  31. ^ Fassihi, Farnaz; Engelbrecht, Cora (27 October 2022). "Memorials for 2 Young Women Killed in Iran Galvanize Protests". The New York Times. Retrieved 28 October 2022.
  32. ^ Graham-Harrison, Emma; Foumani, Maryam (4 October 2022). "Iranian schoolgirls take up battle cry as protests continue". The Guardian. Archived from the original on 6 October 2022. Retrieved 5 October 2022.
  33. ^ Gritten, David (4 October 2022). "Iran schoolgirls remove hijabs in protests against government". BBC News. Archived from the original on 6 October 2022. Retrieved 5 October 2022.
  34. ^ "سازمان حقوق بشر ایران: مسوولیت قتل نیکا شاکرمی با علی خامنه‌ای است". iranhr.net. 6 October 2022. Retrieved 3 March 2023. (Google translated)
  35. ^ a b c "As protests spread to universities, Iran's president tries to ease unrest". CBC.ca. Associated Press. 4 October 2022. Archived from the original on 6 October 2022. Retrieved 5 October 2022.
  36. ^ Hooper, Olivia (4 October 2022). "Nika Shakarami: Iranian Teen Body Allegedly 'Stolen' By Security Forces". Morocco World News. Archived from the original on 5 October 2022. Retrieved 4 October 2022.
  37. ^ "Video of Alleged Forced Confession from Aunt and Uncle". Islamic Republic of Iran News Network (in Persian). Archived from the original on 13 October 2022. Retrieved 13 October 2022.
  38. ^ a b c Ghobadi, Parham (6 October 2022). "Nika Shakarami: Iran protester's family forced to lie about death". BBC. Archived from the original on 6 October 2022. Retrieved 6 October 2022.
  39. ^ "Alarm grows over teen's death as Iran denies protest link". France 24. Agence France-Presse. 5 October 2022. Archived from the original on 23 October 2022. Retrieved 13 October 2022.
  40. ^ Pourahmadi, Adam (12 October 2022). "Mother of Nika Shahkarami, teenage protester found dead in Tehran, denies daughter fell from building". CNN. Archived from the original on 22 October 2022. Retrieved 13 October 2022.
  41. ^ Ghazi, Fereshteh; Askary, Hooman; Scollon, Michael (7 October 2022). "Mother Of Dead Teen Protester Accuses Iranian Authorities Of 'Lying' About Her Death In Attempt To 'Exempt Themselves'". Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty. Archived from the original on 23 October 2022. Retrieved 13 October 2022.
  42. ^ Sinaee, Maryam (6 October 2022). "Iranian Protest Victim's Family Forced Into Televised Confessions". Iran International. Archived from the original on 13 October 2022. Retrieved 13 October 2022.
  43. ^ a b Berg, Raffi (7 October 2022). "Iran protests: Nika Shakarami's mother says her daughter was murdered". BBC News. Archived from the original on 7 October 2022. Retrieved 7 October 2022.
  44. ^ a b "Iran woman accuses state of killing daughter at Mahsa Amini protest". France 24. Agence France-Presse. 6 October 2022. Archived from the original on 6 October 2022. Retrieved 6 October 2022.
  45. ^ "Stegrad iransk ilska efter tonårings död". Västerbottens-Kuriren (in Swedish). 5 October 2022. Archived from the original on 7 October 2022. Retrieved 5 October 2022.
  46. ^ a b Humayun, Hira; Salem, Mostafa; Moshtaghian, Artemis (5 October 2022). "Iranian authorities arrest eight after teenage protester's death". CNN. Archived from the original on 5 October 2022. Retrieved 6 October 2022.
  47. Times of Israel. Agence France-Presse. 7 October 2022. Archived from the original
    on 7 October 2022. Retrieved 7 October 2022.
  48. ^ "اطلاعیه سازمان بهشت زهرا (س) درباره شایعات مربوط به فوت مرحومه "نیکا شاکرمی"" [Notice of Behesht Zahra Organization (PBUH) about the rumors related to the death of Nika Shakrami]. خبرگزاری جمهوری اسلامی (Islamic Republic News Agency) (in Persian). 6 October 2022. Archived from the original on 6 October 2022. Retrieved 16 October 2022.
Retrieved from "https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Killing_of_Nika_Shakarami&oldid=1215301233"