The Tehran Prosecutor’s Office has filed charges against several journalists who have shared the latest BBC World investigation into the murdered teen, Nika Shakarami.
The report said that 16-year-old Shakarami was sexually assaulted and murdered by members of Iran’s security forces last year, in the midst of the Woman, Life, Freedom uprising.
The journalists arrested are the latest among dozens targeted since 2022. At least 79 have been arrested, including the two women who first covered the arrest and death of Mahsa Amini, with reports suggesting numbers as high as 100. In February alone, over 35 were targeted in Iran, which is one of the world’s ‘least free’ countries according to Freedom House.
After announcing the latest arrests, Mizan, Iran’s judiciary news agency, labeled the BBC report as “fake,” criticizing it for containing “false, insulting content, and for acting as propaganda against the regime” on social media platforms. Mizan did not reveal the names or identities of those charged.
According to the BBC report, a “highly confidential” document implicated three security personnel in the direct sexual assault and murder of Shakarami. The document, based on statements from the security forces, named the perpetrators and senior commanders who covered up the details of the crime. The BBC claimed one officer sat on Shakarami as she resisted, which ultimately led to a violent response with batons.
Just four days after Amini was killed, videos showed Shakarami setting fire to her hijab at a protest in Tehran. When Nika suddenly went missing, authorities refused to give the family any answers but after 10 days, authorities informed the family that Nika’s body had been found, later claiming she had committed suicide.
The teen’s death, in which she was found to have severe blows to the head, echoed the murder of Kurdish-Iranian Mahsa Amini in September 2022, which triggered the nationwide uprising dubbed Woman, Life, Freedom.
Arrested by morality police for not wearing her hijab correctly, Amini’s death has seen Iran’s security apparatus since turn to brutal oppression to quash dissent and unrest, in addition to the continued hardening of hijab laws as the country rebels against the state’s strict Islamic dress code.
