Iranian officials have denied reports that security forces killed a 16-year-old girl during protests sparked by the death of a woman in police custody, Iranian media reported on Friday, saying she committed suicide by falling from a roof.
Social media reports and human rights group Amnesty International said Sarina Esmaeilzadeh was killed by security forces when she was hit with batons to the head during protests over the death of 22-year-old Mahsa Amini in morality police custody.
Earlier this week, authorities gave a similar cause of death — falling off a roof — to 17-year-old Nika Shakarami, who activists say was killed in Tehran while protesting Amini’s death.
Human rights groups say more than 150 people have been killed, hundreds injured and thousands arrested in a nationwide crackdown on protests, the biggest challenge to Iran’s clerical leadership in years.
Women have played a prominent role, waving and burning headscarves. High school girls also participated.
The chief justice of Alborz province, where Esmaeilzadeh died, said a preliminary investigation showed his death was caused by suicide by a fall from the roof of a five-story building, the semi-official ISNA news agency reported.
Chief Justice Hossein Fazeli Herikandi said claims in the opposition media about his death were “lies”. “Based on her mother’s account, Esmaeilzadeh had a history of suicide attempts,” he said. Police received a report of her death on Sept. 24, he said.
Reuters was unable to contact his family for comment.
Amnesty International, in a report on 30 September, said she was one of at least 52 people killed by security forces between 19 and 25 September, saying that Esmaeilzadeh “died after being severely beaten on the head with batons”.
A video showing Esmaeilzadeh smiling and listening to music was viewed around 147,000 times on the “1500tasvir” Twitter account.
Amini was arrested on 13 September in Tehran for “inappropriate attire”. Authorities said she suffered a heart attack after being taken to a station to be “polite”.
The family denied that she had heart problems. Her father said she had bruises on her legs and blames the police for her death.
The government ordered an investigation.
Earlier this week, state media said a court case had been opened over Shakarami’s death, citing officials claiming it had nothing to do with the disturbances, and that she had fallen from a roof and her body contained no gunshot wounds. . Activists said she was killed in Tehran during a demonstration.
Source: CNN Brasil
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