The Digital Life of Rubina Aminian, A Young Woman Killed in Iran’s Protests

Rubina Aminian, a Kurdish student studying textile and fashion design at Shariati University in Tehran. She lived in Nowdeshah, in Kermanshah province. On the night of January 8, 2024, she was shot dead in Tehran by Islamic Republic security forces during the January 2026 protests.

This report looks at Rubina’s digital life through her Instagram page, where a mix of emojis and words in her bio revolved around a single idea: “Hope for the future.”

Rubina’s Instagram page felt like a gallery of her passion. She described herself as a fashion designer, and her posts were filled with intricate sketches and fabric patterns. She didn’t just design - she sewed, working with a careful eye for detail to create what she called “Girl Sets,” vibrant, flowing outfits worn by her generation, who often move through city streets like colorful butterflies.

In one of her Instagram Reels, she appears in outfits of white, blue, red, and black. She set the video to the melancholic, poetic audio of Radio Chehrazi, a popular Iranian podcast, and the lyrics move in perfect sync with her transitions, “Last night she wore white and my heart skipped a beat. When she wears blue, my soul takes flight. Red makes me grin. But oh, the black - how can I watch you in black before the night turns to dawn, my dear?”

Although she was Kurdish, Rubina held a deep love for the traditional art of Balochi embroidery, a craft rooted in the oppressed province of Sistan and Baluchestan.

“I am a Kurdish woman who is in love with Balochi needlework,” she wrote in one post. This cross-cultural love was central to her identity. She shared videos of herself sketching patterns inspired by the cypress tree - a Persian symbol of resilience - and filmed the sewing process without background music, letting her followers hear the raw sounds of her surroundings and her creative world.

Rubina went to the streets to demand “freedom” and “equal rights.” Reports indicate she was shot from behind at close range.

According to the human rights organization Hengaw, security forces initially refused to hand over Rubina’s body to her parents, instead taking them to a morgue for identification. Because her family is originally from Marivan, authorities reportedly pressured them to bury her in a remote village, far from her home and friends.

The family was even denied the right to hold a formal mourning ceremony. In what has been described as “double suffering,” they were forced to grieve as guests in a relative’s home rather than in their own.

A scroll through Rubina Aminian’s Instagram reveals a life filled with the same hope she once wrote in her bio.