On September 20, 2022, 16-year-old Nika Shahkarami was captured at a protest burning her and her friends’ hijabs during protests in Tehran (via CNN). A few hours later, she went missing. Ten days after that, her family was informed that she was dead.
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That is the beginning and the end of what is known for certain about Shahkarami’s fate. The narrative about what happened to her has shifted over the weeks: At various times, her family has been told that she was murdered by being thrown from a building, that she simply fell, or that she committed suicide. As Firstpost reports, her family was at one time given her body, which reportedly showed signs that she had been beaten to death. According to NCRI Women Committee, she was likely held by security forces and moved between prisons, though her family was unable to locate or visit her during this time.
