Referee and student among hundreds killed in Iran protests

A referee and a student were reportedly among the hundreds of people killed in mass anti-government protests in Iran.

His friend told BBC Persian that 26-year-old coach Amir Mohammad Koohkan was shot with a live bullet during protests in the town of Neyriz on January 3.

“Everyone knows him for his kindness,” they said, adding that his family was grieving and “angry that he was killed by the regime.”

Five days later, 23-year-old student Rubina Aminian was shot in the back during a protest in Tehran, according to human rights groups. “He fought for what he knew was right,” his uncle told CNN.

A US-based human rights group said nearly 500 protesters and 48 security personnel were killed in two weeks of protests.

Sources in Iran told the BBC the death toll was likely higher than reported.

According to the Human Rights Activist News Agency (HRANA), demonstrations over the economy that started in the capital Tehran on December 28 spread to all 186 cities and 31 provinces.

The protests have turned into the largest protests in recent years, with calls for the end of the Islamic Republic and the rule of Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei.

According to HRANA, the protests led to a government crackdown; Reportedly, at least 10,600 people were arrested and 496 protesters were killed.

Medical staff in Iran say hospitals are overflowing with dead and injured patients. BBC Persian confirmed that 70 bodies were brought to Poursina Hospital in the city of Rasht on January 9, and the BBC counted 180 body bags in footage from a morgue near Tehran, thought to have been shot the same night.

The BBC and most other international news organizations are unable to report from inside Iran, and the Iranian government has shut down the internet since Thursday, making information difficult to obtain and verify.

Among the protest victims was Koohkan, who was killed in Neyriz in southwestern Fars Province, his friend told BBC Persian. His friend did not witness the incident firsthand, but received information from witnesses at the scene.

“It was too early for him, really too early. He was too young,” the friend said.

His friend said they have known Koohkan, an indoor futsal (a type of football) coach and referee, for 10 years: “He was my coach since my childhood, then he became like my brother.”

They described Koohkan, who has a brother, as “someone who doesn’t like to see people in this situation, in this misery.”

“Everyone knew him for his kindness and good nature. The whole town loved him,” the friend said. “The family is both sad and angry. Grieving because they lost their son, angry because he was killed by the regime.”

Aminian, who was shot in the back while attending a protest on Thursday, was also killed, according to three rights groups.

While two groups, the Norway-based Iran Human Rights (IHRNGO) and the Kurdish organization Hengaw, said he was shot in the head, the Kurdistan Human Rights Network said he was shot in the back. Both Kurdish groups said he was shot by government forces.

The BBC was unable to independently verify the circumstances of his death.

IHRNGO said the 23-year-old, whose name is also spelled Robina or Roubina, studied textiles and fashion at the Shariati Technical and Vocational School in Tehran.

“She was a strong girl, a brave girl, and she wasn’t someone you could control and make decisions for,” her uncle told CNN. “He fought and fought hard for what he knew was right.”

She added that she was “thirsty for freedom, thirsty for women’s rights.”

“Overall, she was a living, living girl.”

Members of Aminian’s family traveled to Tehran from their hometown of Kermanshah in western Iran and identified his body. After learning of his death, a source close to the family told INRNGO.

The source said the family had to search for the bodies of hundreds of young people killed in protests near the university.

“It wasn’t just my daughter; I saw hundreds of corpses with my own eyes,” Aminian’s mother said in a statement from the source.

The source claimed that Iranian authorities initially refused to hand over Aminian’s body to his family, then prevented funerals or mourning ceremonies in their hometown.

The family reportedly had to bury him along the road between Kermanshah and Kamyaran.

Iranian leader Khamenei described anti-government protesters as “troublemakers” while US President Donald Trump threatened to intervene and said the US military was considering “very strong options”.

The protests have been the most widespread since the uprising sparked by the 2022 death in custody of Mahsa Amini, a young Kurdish woman who was detained by morality police for allegedly not wearing her hijab properly.

More than 550 people were subsequently killed and 20,000 detained, according to human rights groups.