DUBAI (Reuters) – Iranian authorities deny reports by Amnesty International that Sarina Esmaeilzadeh, a 16-year-old girl who died during a protest, was killed by security forces, and speak of a suicide , Iranian media reported on Friday.
In a report published on September 30, Amnesty indicates that Sarina Esmaeilzadeh is among the people – at least 52 – killed by Iranian security forces between September 19 and 25 in the suppression of the protest movement born from the death of Mahsa Amini, 22, on September 16 after his arrest by the morality police.
According to Amnesty International, Sarina Esmaeilzadeh died after being beaten in the head with truncheons during a demonstration in the province of Alborz.
The head of the Alborz jurisdiction, Hossein Fazeli Herikandi, said that in view of the first elements of the investigation, Sarina Esmaeilzadeh had committed suicide by jumping from the roof of a five-storey building, reports the agency semi-official ISNA.
“According to her mother’s statements, Sarina Esmaeilzadeh had made several suicide attempts in the past,” he said, adding that reports of the alleged circumstances of her death were “lies.”
Police were notified of his death on September 24, he said.
Reuters was unable to reach the girl’s family.
Iranian authorities recently offered the same explanation – a fall from a roof – following the death of a 17-year-old Iranian woman, Nika Shakarami, during a demonstration in Tehran.
(Written by Tom Perry, French version Lina Golovnya, editing by Sophie Louet)
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