Iranian authorities have been accused of brutally beating a teenage schoolgirl to death for refusing to sing a pro-regime song.
Asra Panahi, 16, died after a raid at the Shahed girl’s high school last Thursday when security forces demanded pupils sing an anthem in honour of supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, according to Mail Online.
When a group of girls refused, authorities beat them and hospitalised them, the Coordinating Council of Iranian Teachers’ Trade Associations said. Panahi later died from her injuries.
Her death is the latest to spark outrage across the country which is in its fifth week of violent unrest sparked by the death of Mahsa Amini, 22, in custody after being arrested by the morality police for her ‘inappropriate clothing’.
Iranian authorities predictably denied responsibility for Panahi’s death, and her uncle appeared on state TV claiming she had in fact died from a congenital heart condition.
Earlier this month, security services were accused of beating a teenage girl YouTuber to death but the hardline regime claimed that she took her own life by jumping off a roof.
Sarina Esmailzadeh, 16, was allegedly beaten over the head with batons at a protest in Karaj on September 21.
Alborz Province Justice Department chief Hossein Fazeli also claimed that the teenager killed herself by jumping from her neighbour’s rooftop.
