Sarina Esmailzadeh: Amnesty reports another teenage girl has been killed in Iran amid protests

Sarina Esmailzadeh (L) Protestors (R) Credit: @AlirezaEnferad/Twitter / PA

Another teenage girl has died during protests in Iran, Amnesty International has reported.

Activists in the country claiming the 16-year-old was beaten to death by security forces - rejecting officials' accounts.

According to the human rights group, Sarina Esmailzadeh died after she was beaten by security forces armed with batons on 23 September.

The popular young YouTuber had posted videos of herself singing Western songs and discussing issues including women's rights and the economic problems facing Iran.

The Iranian news agency Isna reported provincial officials as claiming that Ms Esmailzadeh had died by suicide after jumping from a roof.

Activists deny the account, and have characterised the official statement as a coverup.

In a further report, the organisation claimed that 66 people were killed in a crackdown on protests last Friday, with the events described as 'bloody Friday' by Iran social media users.

Demonstrators and bystanders were targeted with violence following Friday prayers in Zahedan, Sistan and Baluchistan provinces.

That followed an order given to Iranian security forces commanders across the country last month to “severely confront troublemakers and anti revolutionaries,” according to a document leaked to Amnesty.

Violence, including the use of live ammunition against protestors, escalated over the following days.

“The Iranian authorities knowingly decided to harm or kill people who took to the streets to express their anger at decades of repression and injustice," said Agnes Callamard, the organisations Secretary General.

"Amid an epidemic of systemic impunity that has long prevailed in Iran, dozens of men, women and children have been unlawfully killed in the latest round of bloodshed."

The death of Mahsa Amini has sparked ongoing protests in Iran. Credit: AP

What are the Iranian protests about?

Protests in Iran were sparked after the death of Mahsa Amini, a 22-year-old who died after she was beaten to death by Iran's morality police.

Since then, thousands of women have taken to the streets in the authoritarian country, many removing their hijabs in protest at strict dress laws.

According to official media, a coroners report declared that Ms Amini fell while in custody, and died due to multiple organ failure bought on by “underlying diseases”.

Protestors reject this account.

Reports emerging of another teenager's death ramped up fury in Iran this week.

Nika Shakarami, 16, vanished days after she joined the protests, and was found dead by her family in a morgue a week later.

Protesters and her family have rejected authorities' claims she was found dead in the street.

BBC's Persian service reported her aunt's claims authorities had 'stolen' Nika's body befoe she could be laid to rest by her family, and buried her in a grave in another village.


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