Fashion student shot dead in Tehran protests, buried by roadside | World | News
At a time when tensions were rising, an Iranian student who was shot and killed while intelligence forces surrounded the family’s house was buried on the side of the road.
Rubina Aminian, a 23-year-old student studying textile and fashion design at Shariati College in Tehran, was killed on Thursday, January 8, according to the Norway-based non-profit human rights organization Iran Human Rights.
Aminian was leaving his university to join protest meetings that were breaking out across the country. Sources close to her family told Iran Human Rights that the young Kurdish woman from Marivan was shot from behind at close range and the bullet hit her head.
His family, who received the news of his death, went from Kermanshah, where they lived, to Tehran to identify his body.
“The family was taken to a location near the university, where they found the bodies of hundreds of young people killed during the protests. Most of the victims were young people aged 18 to 22, shot in the head and neck at close range by government forces.
Sources close to the Aminian family told Human Rights Iran that at first the family was not allowed to identify Rubina’s body, and later they were not allowed to take her body with them. “The problem wasn’t just my daughter; “I saw hundreds of dead bodies with my own eyes,” Rubina’s mother said, according to sources.
“The family had to search among the corpses to identify their daughter, and they undoubtedly saw the bodies of most of the young people killed during the protests,” sources told Iranian Human Rights.
“After long struggles, Rubina’s family finally managed to retrieve her body and return to Kermanshah. However, when they arrived, they found that intelligence forces had surrounded their house and they were not allowed to bury her,” the sources added.
According to those close to Rubina Aminian, the family eventually had to lay her down on the roadside between Kermanshah and Kamyaran, Iran Human Rights reported.
The family has not yet been given permission to hold a memorial service. Sources close to the young woman portrayed her as “a young woman full of joy of dreams, passionate about fashion and clothing design, whose dreams were dashed due to the violent repression of the Islamic Republic.”
What’s going on in Iran?
More than 500 demonstrators have reportedly died in Iran and more than 2,600 demonstrators have been detained during anti-government unrest that has gripped the country for two weeks, according to a US-based human rights organisation. Protests sparked by devastating economic hardship have gripped more than 180 cities, spanning all provinces of Iran.
Protesters in Iran reported large gatherings and an optimistic mood; but chilling accounts of severe violence and “bodies piled on top of each other” in hospitals have also surfaced, according to CNN. One medical expert told CNN that hospitals are in “extreme chaos” with patients living in fear of being identified in the face of a harsh government response.
A nationwide internet outage was observed in Iran on Thursday, reported Netblocks, a group that monitors internet activity.
Minister Donald Trump He stated that the United States was ready to help the Iranian people, but did not provide details on what form this assistance might take.
Trump said: “Iran is looking at FREEDOM like perhaps never before” and added: “USA is ready to help!!!”
