Source: ABC News
“Iranian prosecutors filed criminal charges on Wednesday targeting activists and journalists following a BBC report that alleged security forces had ‘sexually assaulted and killed’ a 16-year-old girl during protests over the death of Mahsa Amini in 2022. Nika Shakarami’s death also sparked widespread outrage at the time. … authorities said she died after falling from a tall building, something immediately disputed by her mother, who said her daughter had been beaten. The BBC report published on Monday — relying on what it described as a report written for Iran’s paramilitary Revolutionary Guard — said Shakarami was detained by undercover security forces who molested her, then killed her with batons and electronic stun guns after she struggled against the assault. … ‘The Tehran Prosecutor’s Office filed a criminal case against these people,’ Mizan [the judiciary’s news agency] said, with charges including ‘spreading lies’ and ‘propaganda against the system.'” (05/01/24)