According to an Iranian teachers’ union, a 15-year-old student in Iran has died after being beaten by security forces. Asra Panahi died on Oct. 13 after “civilian officials” “attacked” Shahed Gymnasium in the northwestern city of Ardabil, the Coordinating Council of Teachers’ Unions said in a statement released Monday.
Ardabil is considered the center of the protests sparked by the death of young Kurd Mahsa Amini in mid-September. The 22-year-old died in Tehran on September 16 after being arrested there three days earlier by vice squad on charges of not wearing her headscarf in accordance with regulations.
Another student is in a coma after being beaten
According to the teachers’ union, the students in Ardabil had been taken to an “ideological event”. According to the union, some chanted “slogans against discrimination and inequality” and were “exposed to violence and insults by women in plain clothes and women in veils”. After returning to school, they were beaten again. Asra Panahi subsequently died in hospital and another student was in a coma after the beating, the union said.
State television later aired an interview with the girl’s uncle, in which he said his niece died of heart failure. The website Didban Iran quoted Ardabil MP Kasem Mousavi in a report that the 15-year-old had “committed suicide by taking pills”.
Ex-footballer denies ‘rumours’
Iranian ex-football star Ali Daei, also from Ardabil, who had come into contact with the authorities for supporting the protests, reacted indignantly. He wrote on Instagram that he did not believe Panahi died of heart failure and dismissed claims that she took her own life as “rumours”.
In response to Daei’s Instagram post, which has tens of millions of followers, the Misan Online Judiciary website dismissed its version of the events as “fake news.”
Source: Krone
I’m Wayne Wickman, a professional journalist and author for Today Times Live. My specialty is covering global news and current events, offering readers a unique perspective on the world’s most pressing issues. I’m passionate about storytelling and helping people stay informed on the goings-on of our planet.
