Anti-hijab Iranian teen killed, body snatched, buried secretly to avoid outrage

Tehran: Nika Shakarami, a 16-year-old woman protester who went missing for 10 days after heading out to join a demonstration in Tehran on 20 September, was “secretly buried” by the Iranian security forces after they “stole the body” to avoid a funeral that could spark more outrage.

This 17-year-old #Iranian girl Nika Shakarami, was killed by the Mullah 🇮🇷 regime, for protesting in support of #Mahsa_Amini. Her body was delivered dead to her parents from Kharizak jail on Sep 30, then authorities stole body to block the funeral.pic.twitter.com/rDb9PI6PZc

— Zahack Tanvir — ضحاك تنوير (@ZahackTanvir) October 5, 2022

The authorities took possession of Nika Shakarami’s body and secretly buried her in a village about 40 km away, sources told BBC Persian. Nika, in her last message to a friend, had said that she was being chased by security forces, according to her aunt. Later on, the family found Nika’s body in a morgue at a detention centre in the capital. “When we went to identify her, they didn’t allow us to see her body, only her face for a few seconds,” the report quoted her aunt Atash Shakarami as saying. Nika’s family had transferred her body to her father’s hometown of Khorramabad on Sunday – on what would have been her 17th birthday. While they agreed not to hold a funeral, the Iranian security forces “stole” her body from Khorramabad and buried it in the village of Veysian, the report quoted sources as saying. After hearing this, protesters in a large number gathered in Khorramabad cemetery and chanted slogans against the Iranian government, including “death to the dictator” - a reference to Ayatollah Khamenei. No just that, Nika’s aunt Atash, who posted about Nika on her social media accounts, was arrested on Sunday when security forces raided her house. They even threatened to kill Atash if anyone in the family took part in protests, according to sources. Protests in Iran The nationwide protests in Iran started after Mahsa Amini, 22, was pronounced dead on 16 September, days after the notorious morality police detained the Kurdish Iranian for allegedly breaching rules requiring women to wear hijab and modest clothes. Thereafter, anger flared at her funeral and spread to become the biggest wave of protests to rock Iran in almost three years. A crackdown has seen scores of demonstrators killed and hundreds arrested. Protests also spread to schools, with video footage shared by Kurdish rights group Hengaw showing schoolgirls demonstrating in two cities in Amini’s native Kurdistan province. At least 92 protesters have been killed so far in the unrest, said Oslo-based group Iran Human Rights (IHR), which has been working to assess the death toll despite internet outages and blocks on WhatsApp, Instagram and other online services.  (With inputs from agencies) Read all the Latest News , Trending News ,  Cricket News , Bollywood News , India News and Entertainment News here. Follow us on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram.