Iran: Justice denies the death of a teenager under the beating of the police

Europe 1 with AFP 3:25 p.m., October 07, 2022

Iranian justice has denied that a teenager was killed in Alborz province by security forces during protests against the death of Mahsa Amini, saying she had "committed suicide".

On September 30, Amnesty International claimed that "Sarina Ismaïlzadeh, a 16-year-old girl, died after being severely beaten in the head with truncheons" on September 23 during protests in the province of Alborz (north-west ).

Iran has been the scene of protests since the September 16 death of Mahsa Amini, a 22-year-old Iranian Kurd, after her arrest in Tehran by vice squad who accused her of breaking Iran's strict dress code requiring women to cover their hair in public.

One death caused by a fall according to the authorities

"Media hostile to the Islamic Republic of Iran claimed that Sarina Ismailzadeh, a native of Karaj (capital of Alborz province), was killed by security forces during the rallies," Mizan Online reported Thursday evening, the website of the Judicial Authority.

But "the first elements of the investigation" showed that the teenager had "committed suicide", said the Alborz prosecutor, Hossein Fazeli Harikandi, quoted by Mizan Online.

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The teenager "jumped 20 minutes after midnight on September 24" from a "building not far from her grandmother's house in the Azimieh district", he said.

"According to the forensic report, death was due to the shock caused by the impact of the fall, as well as multiple injuries, fractures and haemorrhages," said Fazeli Harikandi.

Dozens of protesters killed 

According to him, "there were no riots in the area where this incident occurred".

Mizan Online released a short video of Sarina Ismaïlzadeh's mother on Friday in which the latter assures that her daughter "had nothing to do" with the demonstrations.

On Wednesday, Iranian justice denied any link between the death of another 16-year-old girl, Nika Shakarami, and the protests in Iran.

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The latter died after participating in these demonstrations.

In a video released Thursday by Persian-language media based abroad, Nika's mother accused authorities of killing her daughter.

Dozens of people, mainly demonstrators but also members of the security forces, have been killed since September 16 during rallies described as "riots" by the authorities.

Hundreds have been arrested.