Death of 16-year-old protester Nika Shakarami further fuels anger in Iran

Her story is eerily similar to that of Mahsa Amini, the 22-year-old Kurdish woman whose death on Sept. 16 in the custody of Iran’s “morality police” provided the first spark for the largest demonstrations Iran has seen in several years. Authorities said Amini had a heart attack after being arrested for an alleged violation of Iran’s strict dress code, releasing edited footage as evidence. But her family believes she was abused, and at her funeral, mourners yelled, “Death to the dictator” — a taboo reference to Iran’s supreme leader — before being attacked by police.

The protests now sweeping the country are a formidable challenge to Iran’s clerical leadership, reflecting decades of pent-up fury over poverty, repression, gender segregation and human rights violations. Iran’s leaders blamed the West for the popular uprising and have launched a violent crackdown, cutting internet access and killing at least 80 people, according to rights groups. Authorities have also threatened the families of those arrested and killed, seeking to intimidate them into silence.

Despite the danger, Shakarami’s aunt, Atash Shakarami, shared news of the teen’s disappearance on social media. Soon, her story began to circulate online and gain attention in Iran. A video of Shakarami wearing black baggy pants and a black T-shirt, her jet-black hair cut short, while singing a Persian love song went viral.

For days, Iranian authorities did not publicly comment on the case, but the family says they were privately pressured to keep quiet.

Shakarami’s aunt told BBC Persian that the teenager left the house on Sept. 20 with a water bottle in her bag, supposedly to visit her sister. The family later realized she was going to protest and probably took the water to rinse tear gas from her eyes.

They lost contact with her around 7 p.m. Sept. 20, the aunt said, and her Instagram and Telegram accounts were deleted that night. Security forces often demand detainees give them access to their social media accounts.

The family filed a missing persons report and searched for her in hospitals and police stations. But they heard nothing until 10 days later, when they found her body in a morgue.

“When we went to identify her, they didn’t allow us to see her body, only her face for a few seconds,” Atash Shakarami told BBC Persian.

As a condition for releasing the body, authorities demanded that the family bury her privately — a common tactic to avoid the funeral turning into a protest, as in the case of Amini.

The family brought her body to Shakarami’s father’s hometown in the west…