An Iranian teenager was sexually assaulted and killed by three men working for Iran’s security forces, a leaked document understood to have been written by those forces says.

It has let us map what happened to 16-year-old Nika Shakarami who vanished from an anti-regime protest in 2022.

Her body was found nine days later. The government claimed she killed herself.

We put the report’s allegations to Iran’s government and its Revolutionary Guards. They did not respond.

Marked “Highly Confidential”, the report summarises a hearing on Nika’s case held by the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) - the security force that defends the country’s Islamic establishment. It includes what it says are the names of her killers and the senior commanders who tried to hide the truth.

  • john89@lemmy.ca
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    7 months ago

    They won’t be able to topple the regime without outside assistance.

    Unfortunately they’re brown, so they don’t get a blank check from the United States like Ukraine and Israel.

    Brown people have to solve their own problems, or else it’s colonization.

    • LaLuzDelSol@lemmy.world
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      7 months ago

      US intervenes: “this is imperialism! The US only wants Iranian oil. They don’t care about brown people”

      US does not intervene: “the US doesn’t care about brown people!”

        • PugJesus@lemmy.world
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          7 months ago

          The UK (and US - in that order) were directly responsible for the overthrow of Mossadegh’s government and the resulting ~25 years of repression by the Shah, but while the resulting fall of the Shah was inevitable, the Islamic Revolution was not. It came on a knife’s edge.

    • captainlezbian@lemmy.world
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      7 months ago

      No they’re left wing compared to their government so they won’t get us assistance. Who do you think helped overthrow the liberal government of Iran?

      But also Iran is a nuclear power and unhinged

      • LaLuzDelSol@lemmy.world
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        7 months ago

        The US government is absolutely working to destabilize the current Iranian government. They would love to see the people take over the country and restore democracy for a number of geopolitical reasons. Also “left wing compared to an Islamist theocracy” is still pretty conservative, the US isn’t scared off by that haha.

      • PugJesus@lemmy.world
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        7 months ago

        No they’re left wing compared to their government so they won’t get us assistance.

        It’s more that, when the US isn’t directly funding regime overthrows, we tend to take a “We’ll come in with FULL support at the very last moment when we’re certain who’s going to win, so we can curry favor with expense but no risk.”

      • UnderpantsWeevil@lemmy.world
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        7 months ago

        No they’re left wing compared to their government so they won’t get us assistance.

        In something of a cultural paradox, Iran is worse on LGB rights but significantly better on T rights than its western peers. So stark is the contrast that cis-gay men and women are often under pressure to transition in an attempt to become more socially acceptable to social conservatives in power.

        But also Iran is a nuclear power and unhinged

        If you compare the Israeli response to October 7th with the Iranian response to Israeli’s bombing of their Syrian embassy or the US slaying of their General-turned-Ambassador Qasem Soleimani, I’d say they are some of the most hinged residents in the region.

        They also haven’t successfully conducted a nuclear test to date. They have ballistic missiles with traditional munitions, and they have some hypersonic rockets that have outclassed western missile defense systems (as evidenced by the post-embassy retaliation into the Israeli desert). But their nuclear capacity isn’t even at North Korean tier, largely thanks to their lack of enrichable uranium.

        • captainlezbian@lemmy.world
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          7 months ago

          So have you ever met an Iranian trans person? I’ve actually had a few lovely conversations with one. Is it not the death penalty to be a straight trans person? Yes. That’s actually why this lady was in America, as a lesbian she had to flee after transitioning. Also as a woman she’s treated like shit and while officially the government allows straight trans people (which btw the history and theology that led to this is wild) if you don’t transition perfectly in no time at all you’re at serious risk. I’d go so far as to say it is settled but not accepted doctrine.

          And so as an American trans woman, trust me, I’d rather be in Alabama than Tehran, as would most of the trans women in Tehran.

          • UnderpantsWeevil@lemmy.world
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            7 months ago

            So have you ever met an Iranian trans person?

            Yes.

            Is it not the death penalty to be a straight trans person?

            If you are a trans-man who is married to a woman, you are not subject to the death penalty, no.

            Also as a woman she’s treated like shit

            That’s definitely another problem. Although, again, in no way unique to Iran.

            And so as an American trans woman, trust me, I’d rather be in Alabama than Tehran

            Are you an American trans-woman living in Alabama? Or are you saying that from a significant safe distance?

            Because I’ve got Trans relatives in Texas, and they are planning to GTFO before the year is up.

        • anon987@lemmy.world
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          7 months ago

          They do not have better trans rights than western countries.

          Show your source, cause the one you linked says this;

          Trans men and trans women are treated differently from each other in Iranian society. Trans men are more visible socially and are able to find acceptance in society more easily than trans women, who are often misgendered and put in the same category as gay men. Currently, Iran is the only country confirmed to execute gay people,

        • CanadaPlus@lemmy.sdf.org
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          7 months ago

          In something of a cultural paradox, Iran is worse on LGB rights but significantly better on T rights than its western peers. So stark is the contrast that cis-gay men and women are often under pressure to transition in an attempt to become more socially acceptable to social conservatives in power.

          Lol, I wonder if any trans people have migrated there for refuge.

            • CanadaPlus@lemmy.sdf.org
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              7 months ago

              Maybe from a different non-Western country, then? I bet it’s better to be trans there than Russia.

              I had heard they have a totally different, more tolerant approach to trans issues, although I don’t know the specifics of how that looks in practice. I guess even a broken clock is right sometimes.