Disappeared in September 2022, the 16-year-old teenager was allegedly sexually assaulted and killed by three men, according to an investigation published by the BBC on Tuesday April 30.
His face had become a symbol in Iran. Disappeared in September 2022, Nika Shakarami was found dead nine days later by her family in a morgue. At the time, the government concluded it was suicide. The 16-year-old girl was in fact sexually assaulted and killed by three men working for the Iranian security forces, reveals a BBC article published on Tuesday April 30.
To carry out its investigation, the British media relied on a secret document, “leaked and allegedly written by these forces”. Classified as “highly confidential,” the report summarizes a hearing about Nika Shakarami, organized by the Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC), the ideological army of the country’s Islamic Republic. According to the BBC, it allows us to know what happened that day, but also reveals the names of the alleged assassins and the high-ranking officers who tried to hide the truth.
Beaten to death
Nika Shakarami was last seen on September 20, 2022, during a demonstration against the regime in central Tehran. At the time, the “Women, Life, Freedom” movement had just been launched a few days earlier, after the death of Mahsa Amini on September 16. Amidst the slogans, Nika Shakarami expresses her anger and sets fire to hijabs. “What she could not have known at the time was that she was being watched, as the classified report makes clear,” details the BBC.
According to the same Source, “several undercover security units monitored the demonstration.” Among them, “team 12”, who suspects the 16-year-old teenager of being one of the leaders of the movement. Nika Shakarami is then arrested and put in the back of a security unit van. The report, says the BBC, “contains disturbing details about the events” which took place in the vehicle that day. “One of the men abused her while he was sitting on top of her. Although handcuffed and shackled, she struggled […].” Which, according to these members of the security service, would have triggered baton blows, continues the media. Still according to the document, the attackers beat him to death. Before abandoning the teenager’s body in a “quiet street” from Tehran.
Nine days later, the teenager’s mother found her daughter’s body in a morgue. After the funeral, the government assured that she had committed suicide, relying on the results of an “official investigation”. But Nika Shakarami’s death certificate – consulted by BBC Persian in October 2022 – does not give the same version, claiming that she was killed by “multiple injuries caused by blows with a hard object”.
The report describes “the teenager’s last movements”
A hypothesis confirmed by the report. The document “concludes that a sexual assault was the cause of the fight in the back compartment of the van and that the beatings from Team 12 caused Nika’s death,” reveals the BBC this Tuesday, which specifies that three batons and three tasers were used. “We have submitted the allegations in the report to the Iranian government and its Revolutionary Guards. They didn’t respond,” notes the media.
The BBC Eye investigation lasted several months. She “was not only about the content of the report, but also about whether it could be relied upon as an artifact”, specifies the media, which recalls that many official Iranian documents circulating on the internet turn out to be fake. To verify the authenticity of the text, the journalists explain that they called on a former officer of the Iranian intelligence services. And to conclude: “Our in-depth investigations confirm that the documents we obtained clearly relate the last movements of the teenager.”
In the fall of 2022, the disappearance and death of Nika Shakarami were the subject of widespread media coverage. The photo of the teenager, dressed in black and with silver chains on her neck, quickly became a symbol in the struggle of Iranian women for more freedoms. Just like his name, chanted by crowds during demonstrations. Since the start of the “Women, Life, Freedom” movement, 551 demonstrators have been killed by security forces, according to a United Nations report published at the end of March.
