Teen protester sexually assaulted before she was killed

Nika Shakarami, a teenage girl who lost her life during the 2022 protests, was sexually assaulted before she was killed by security officers, a new report reveals. 

Nika, 16, disappeared on September 20, 2022, during an anti-government protest in Tehran.

Her family found her body in a mortuary outside the capital after spending days looking for her in prisons, detention centres, police stations, and hospitals.

Nika’s aunt and uncle were later arrested and appeared on state television, saying Nika had been “thrown” from a multi-story building located close to her home.

Officials told the state media that there were no bullet marks on Nika’s body and that her death was not linked to protests. 

A new document leaked to the BBC now reveals that she was sexually assaulted. 

Just before she vanished, Nika was filmed on the evening of September 20 near Laleh Park in central Tehran, standing on a dumpster and setting fire to hijabs.

A security forces team sent one of its operatives into the crowd, posing as a protester, to confirm Nika was indeed one of the demonstration's leaders.

Then, according to the report, he called in his team to arrest her. But she fled.

Almost an hour passed before she was spotted again, says the report, when she was detained and put in the team's vehicle—an unmarked freezer van.

Nika was in the rear compartment with three security forces named Arash Kalhor, Sadegh Monjazy, and Behrooz Sadeghy, according to the BBC. 

The group then attempted to find somewhere to take her. They tried a temporary police camp nearby but were turned away because it was overcrowded.

Along the way, Nika tried to resist. 

"The accused [Nika] was constantly swearing and chanting," an officer told investigators for the report.

"At that time, there were 14 other female detainees at the station, and my perception was that she could agitate the others.

"Arash Kalhor gagged her mouth with his socks but she started struggling. Then Sadegh [Monjazy] laid her on the chest freezer and sat on her. The situation calmed," he told investigators.

"I don't know what happened, but after a few minutes she started swearing. I couldn't see anything, I could only hear fighting and bashing."

He says he briefly turned on his phone torch and saw Sadegh Monjazy "put his hand inside her trousers." Arash Kalhor said after that they lost control.

"He doesn't know who [was doing it], but he could hear the baton hitting the accused [Nika]... 'I started to kick and punch but really didn't know if I was hitting our guys or the accused.'"

"She kicked at my face, so I had to defend myself. From the van's cabin, Morteza Jalil ordered the driver to pull over. He opened the rear door to discover Nika's lifeless body.

He said he cleaned the blood from her face and head - "which were not in a good condition".

Nika's mother and uncle said her skull and nose were broken when they received the body for burial. The body was stitched from the chest to the stomach due to the autopsy, security officers told them.

Nika became an icon for the ongoing anti-government protests that have rocked Iran since the September 16 death of 22-year-old Mahsa Amini. Protesters have shared video of the teenager laughing and singing a song just days before her disappearance.

Amini died in the custody of the morality police after she was arrested for allegedly wearing the hijab incorrectly.