Iran School Girl Dies After Security Forces Beat Her For Refusing To Sing Pro-Regime Anthem

A teachers' union reported that a 15-year-old Iranian girl died last week after being beaten during a security force raid on her school, appealing to the government to stop killing "innocent" protesters.

As per the Co-ordinating Council of Teachers Syndicates, Asra Panahi passed away on October 13 after "plainclothes officers attacked" Shahed High School in the northwest city of Ardabil.

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The kids had been transported into the city for an "ideological event" at a site that was the center of protests following Mahsa Amini's passing while in the custody of Iran's notorious morality police.

Some school kids, who started "chanting slogans against discrimination and inequality," were "subjected to violence and insults by plainclothes and veiled women," the union said.

"After that, one of the pupils named Asra Panahi, unfortunately, passed away in hospital, and several students were arrested," adding that the beating left another pupil in a coma.

According to her uncle, she died of heart failure, was interviewed, and later aired on state television.

According to a post on the Didban Iran website, Ardabil's parliamentary representative, Kazem Mousavi, said she had "committed suicide by swallowing pills."?

These reports angered Ali Daei, a retired Iranian footballer from Ardabil who has run into trouble with the law for his support of the Amini protests.

In a post to his 10 million Instagram followers, Mr. Daei said he did not think Panahi had passed away from heart failure and dismissed the MP's claim that she had tried to commit suicide as "rumors."

The 22-year-old Amini's death after her imprisonment for allegedly violating Iran's strict dress code for women has triggered the nation's most significant protests.

"The council calls on the system and military and security forces to stop their transgressions against schools," it said.

Iran Protest | AFP

"This council also calls on the system to stop killing innocent people and defenseless protesters."

In response to Mr. Daei's Instagram post, the judiciary's Mizan Online website rejected his version of events as "fake news."?

"If Mr. Daei has any proof regarding the claims made about the death of the girl pupil in Ardabil, he is expected to present them to the related officials as soon as possible and to follow up on them," it said.

A coalition of humanitarian groups, including Amnesty International, alleged on Monday that at least 23 identified children have died due to the security forces' crackdown on the Amini protests.

(With AFP inputs)

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