Iranian University Student Recalls Smile Of Police Who Shot Her In The Face

Ghazal Ranjkesh, a law student from Iran’s southern city of Bandar Abbas, is among dozens of Iranians who sustained severe eye trauma from metal pellets shot by security forces during nationwide protests.

Ranjkesh says she was on her way home with her mother on November 15 when a police officer fired a metal bullet at her face at close range.

“The last image my right eye recorded was the smiling face of a man while shooting at me," the young woman wrote on her Instagram page.

"The shooter didn't know I'm bulletproof, he didn't know that my soul and body are more than that," she wrote.

"Why did you hit me? Why were you smiling when you shot at me?" Ranjkesh asked the shooter, adding: " I had very beautiful eyes, everyone was telling me that."

Iranians demanding more freedoms and women's rights have taken to the streets across the country since the September death of a 22-year-old woman in the custody of morality police. She had been arrested for an alleged breach of the country's strict dress code.

Security forces have cracked down hard on the protests, which have grown into a broad movement against the theocracy that has ruled Iran since the 1979 Islamic Revolution. At least 416 people, including 51 children and 27 women, have been killed in the crackdown, according one human rights group.