Her story is eerily much like that of Mahsa Amini, the 22-year-old Kurdish girl whose loss of life on Sept. 16 in the custody of Iran’s “morality police” offered the primary spark for the biggest demonstrations Iran has seen in a number of years. Authorities mentioned Amini had a coronary heart assault after being arrested for an alleged violation of Iran’s strict costume code, releasing edited footage as proof. But her household believes she was abused, and at her funeral, mourners yelled, “Death to the dictator” — a taboo reference to Iran’s supreme chief — earlier than being attacked by police.
The protests now sweeping the nation are a formidable problem to Iran’s clerical management, reflecting many years of pent-up fury over poverty, repression, gender segregation and human rights violations. Iran’s leaders blamed the West for the favored rebellion and have launched a violent crackdown, reducing web entry and killing at the least 80 individuals, in accordance with rights teams. Authorities have additionally threatened the households of these arrested and killed, searching for to intimidate them into silence.
Despite the hazard, Shakarami’s aunt, Atash Shakarami, shared information of the teenager’s disappearance on social media. Soon, her story started to flow into on-line and acquire consideration in Iran. A video of Shakarami carrying black saggy pants and a black T-shirt, her jet-black hair minimize quick, whereas singing a Persian love track went viral.
For days, Iranian authorities didn’t publicly touch upon the case, however the household says they had been privately pressured to maintain quiet.
Shakarami’s aunt informed BBC Persian that {the teenager} left the home on Sept. 20 with a water bottle in her bag, supposedly to go to her sister. The household later realized she was going to protest and doubtless took the water to rinse tear gasoline from her eyes.
They misplaced contact together with her round 7 p.m. Sept. 20, the aunt mentioned, and her Instagram and Telegram accounts had been deleted that evening. Security forces typically demand detainees give them entry to their social media accounts.
The household filed a lacking individuals report and looked for her in hospitals and police stations. But they heard nothing till 10 days later, once they discovered her physique in a morgue.
“When we went to identify her, they didn’t allow us to see her body, only her face for a few seconds,” Atash Shakarami told BBC Persian.
As a situation for releasing the physique, authorities demanded that the household bury her privately — a standard tactic to keep away from the funeral turning right into a protest, as in the case of Amini.
The household introduced her physique to Shakarami’s father’s hometown in the west of Iran on Sunday, however they by no means obtained the possibility to carry a funeral. That similar day, authorities took again Shakarami’s physique and buried her in a village about 25 miles away. They additionally arrested her aunt, Atash Shakarami.
Realizing they may not ignore her case, Iranian authorities lastly commented Tuesday on Shakarami’s loss of life, claiming that her physique was discovered Sept. 21 in the yard of a constructing after she had fallen to her loss of life. Authorities additionally mentioned they’d arrested eight staff allegedly on the constructing when she died, according to Tasnim News. The information company is near the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corp whose police pressure, the Basij, have been a key half of the crackdown on protesters. Fars News, which can be IRGC-affiliated, released video footage Wednesday that it mentioned confirmed Shakarami coming into the constructing, although the individual is just not identifiable.
State tv also aired footage Wednesday of Shakarami’s aunt corroborating the federal government narrative, saying that the teenager fell from the roof of the constructing. Her uncle appeared as nicely and criticized the protests. But as he spoke, a shadow appeared and somebody appeared to whisper in Persian, “Say it, you scumbag!”
Iran’s authorities has lengthy made use of compelled confessions, in accordance with rights teams, and on Thursday, Shakarami’s mom informed Radio Farda, the Persian arm of U.S.-funded Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty, she was additionally being intimidated.
“They killed my daughter, and now they are threatening me into a forced confession,” she mentioned.
