Suppressed uprising in Iran: How Nika, a 17-year-old protester, was hunted down, sexually assaulted and killed – secret document seen by BBC

An Iranian teenager arrested during anti-government protests in 2022 was sexually assaulted and killed by three men working for Iranian security forces, according to a document obtained by the BBC. The regime in Tehran claimed that the young woman committed suicide, a version vehemently rejected by the girl’s family.

Nika Shakarami, a 17-year-old girl, disappeared in the fall of 2022, during the large demonstrations against the regime in Tehran.

The protests had been sparked by the death in custody of another young woman, 22-year-old Mahsa Amini, who was arrested by the morality police for not wearing the hijab properly.

The demonstrations demanded civil, democratic rights and even the removal of the Tehran regime and its supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei.

Nika Shakarami’s family found the girl dead at the morgue more than a week after she disappeared from a protest. But Iranian authorities denied that her death was related to the demonstration and, after conducting their own investigation, said she committed suicide.

Shortly before she disappeared, Nika had been filmed on the evening of September 20 near Laleh Park in central Tehran, sitting on a dumpster and setting fire to a hijab.

Others around her chanted “death to the dictator” – referring to Iran’s supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei.

What Nika could not have known at the time is that she was being watched, as the classified report obtained by the BBC makes clear.

Arrested and put in a van

According to the report, security forces closely monitoring the protests assumed that the young woman was a protest leader and sent an undercover officer to check it out. Then they decided to arrest her.

It took a manhunt through the city streets as Nika had sensed she was being followed and tried to escape.

But without success. She was arrested and placed in an unmarked police van.

Three members of the security forces were with the girl in the back of the van, and they hesitated between several destinations before leaving for Evin prison after speaking with an officer.

From the testimonies of the three, appearing in the report consulted by the BBC, it emerged that the young woman continued to shout and protest.

Sexually assaulted and then beaten to death

Other gruesome details emerged. According to the report cited by the BBC, one of the men, Arash Kalhor, said he briefly turned on his phone flashlight and saw his colleague, Sadegh Monjazy, “(put) his hand into her pants.”

He added that after that they lost control.

“I started kicking and punching, but I really didn’t know if I was hitting our boys or the accused,” he said.

Sadegh Monjazy contradicted Arash Kalhor’s statement, which he said was motivated by professional jealousy. He denied reaching into the young woman’s pants – but said he could not deny he became “excited” while sitting on top of her and touched her bottom.

He said this prompted Nika – despite her hands being tied behind her back – to scratch and hit him.

“He kicked me in the face so I had to defend myself,” he said.

When the driver stopped the van and opened the back door. he discovered the lifeless body of the young woman. He said he cleaned the blood from her face and head – “which were not in a good state”.

Death certificate, confirmed by the report

Finally, the three people in the van spoke to a superior who told them to leave the young woman’s body on the street – where Nika was later found.

“We already had deaths in our stations and we didn’t want the number to reach 20,” an officer identified as Naeem 16. told the inquest.

The report concluded that a sexual assault caused the fight in the back of the van, and that the blows of the three caused Nika’s death.

“Three batons and three stun guns were used. It is not clear which of the blows was the fatal one,” the report states.

This confirms the young woman’s death certificate – obtained by BBC Persian in October 2022 – which states that she was killed by “multiple blunt force injuries”.

The report blatantly contradicts the government’s version of what happened to the young woman. Almost a month after her funeral, state television broadcast the results of the official inquest, which said Nika had jumped from a building.

The young woman’s mother vehemently denied this version.

A written reprimand

None of the three men involved have been punished, the BBC writes.

A possible reason would be that the three were not official employees of the state, but members of a paramilitary group used by the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC).

Instead, Naeem 16, the three’s liaison and an IRGC officer, received a written reprimand.

At least 551 protesters were killed during the 2022 protests, most by gunfire, according to the UN investigative mission.

The protests subsided after a few months due to a bloody crackdown by security forces. There has been a lull in the work of Iran’s morality police, but recently the authorities tasked with enforcing the Islamic dress code have taken to the streets again.