LONDON: Authorities in Iran allegedly beat a 15 year-old-girl to death last week following a raid on a school, the BBC reported.
Citing a statement by the Co-ordinating Council of Teachers Syndicates, the BBC said that Asra Panahi was one of several students targeted during the incident in Ardabil, northwest Iran.
She was killed following the raid, which was launched by authorities after students at the school refused to sing the Iranian national anthem.
The syndicate said on social media that authorities forced girls at Shahed High School to sing the anthem.
At the beginning of the event, a number of students started chanting against the government, prompting male and female security personnel in plain clothes to insult and beat many of them, the statement alleged.
Later, once the students had returned to their classrooms, they raided the school and beat some of the students again, it said. Seven students were injured and 10 were arrested, it added.
The statement said that Asra Panahi was among those who were injured and that she died later in hospital.
However, Iranian state media has claimed that Panahi died as a result of a “heart problem,” citing her uncle, who claimed in an interview that the 15-year-old had died from cardiac arrest.
Ardabil MP Kazem Musavi claimed in the media that Panahi had committed suicide and was not killed by authorities.
Retired Iranian footballer, Ali Daei, who was born in Ardabil, rejected the claims on social media and warned that the truth over Panahi’s death must be revealed.
“History has proven who the liars are,” he said.
Panahi’s death has triggered protests around Ardabil since Saturday.
Countrywide protests erupted last month in Iran over the death of 22-year-old Mahsa Amini.
As the demonstration movement developed, schoolgirls across Iran showed support for protesters by refusing to wear hijabs and chanting “Death to the dictator” in reference to Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei.
The UN Human Rights Office has criticized the “unabated violent response by security forces against protesters, and reports of arbitrary arrests and the killing and detention of children.
“Some sources suggest that as many as 23 children have been killed and many others injured in at least seven provinces by live ammunition, metal pellets at close range and fatal beatings.”
