A 16-year old schoolgirl in Iran’s Ardabil, Asra Panahi was reportedly killed by security forces in after she was beaten in her classroom for refusing to sing a pro-regime song when her school was raided last week fueling further nationwide protests, reported the Guardian.
According to the report citing the Coordinating Council of Iranian Teacher’s Trade Association, Panahi died after security forces raided the Shahed girls high school on October 13 and demanded a group of girls to sing pro-regime anthem in praise of country’s supreme leader, Ayatollah Alu Khumeini.
On refusing the demands, the security forces started beating the girls which resulted in a number of girls being taken to the hospital and others arrested. On Friday, Panahi reportedly succumbed to her injuries sustained at the school.
While the incident has already sparked protests against the authorities, the Iranian officials have denied the claims that its security forces were responsible. As per the report, amid outrage sparked across the country by Panahi’s death, a man identified as her uncle appeared on state TV channels claiming she had died from a congenital heart condition.
The Iranian authorities had launched raids at schools across the country after videos of schoolgirls emerged where they could be seen waving off their hijabs in the air and taking down pictures of Khameini and shouting anti-regime slogans in support of Mahsa Amini who had died in August after being detained by the moral police for not wearing her hijab properly.
The security personnel forced their ways into the classrooms violently arresting schoolgirls and pushing them into waiting cars and firing teargas into school buildings, the Guardian report stated.
In a statement posted on Sunday, Iran’s teachers’ union condemned the “brutal and inhumane” raids and called for the resignation of the education minister, Yousef Nouri.
The development comes amid ongoing anti-hijab protests in the country which were sparked by Amini’s death.