The UN called the recent BBC investigation into the death of Iranian teenager Nika Shakarami “very very troubling”.
“The Secretary-General has repeatedly spoken about his concern of human rights violations in Iran. There is a special rapporteur on Iran and there are other human rights mechanisms. And I think whatever information the BBC has brought should be sent to those mechanisms,” Stéphane Dujarric, Spokesman for the Secretary-General, told reporters on Wednesday.
Shakarami, 16, was an iconic figure in Iran’s 2022 Woman, Life, Freedom movement triggered by the death in morality-police custody of Mahsa Amini.
Citing a “very confidential” document addressed to the the IRGC's commander-in-chief, BBC World released a report Tuesday on how the teenager was arrested, sexually assaulted and murdered by the regime’s security forces in September 2022.
Meanwhile, Dujarric was asked to provide the UN’s stance on the death sentence handed down to Iranian dissident rapper Toomaj Salehi.
“We have stood and continue to stand against any use of the death penalty. And we very much hope that this does not come to pass … These are issues that have been regularly brought up with the Iranian authorities,” he went on to say.
Last week, an Iranian revolutionary court sentenced the outspoken artist to death for his songs supporting the 2022 nationwide uprising.
Interior Minister Ahmad Vahidi is the highest-ranking Iranian official who has so far reacted to the BCC’s report on Shakarami’s rape and murder. On Wednesday, he rejected the report as “false and far from reality,” further saying that it has covered a “very ridiculous topic all aspects of which are clear.”
Meanwhile, the Iranian state media reiterated the same stance as that of the interior minister towards the BBC probe.
IRNA, Iranian state news agency, accused the broadcaster of addressing issues that can “disturb and anger the Iranian society.”
IRNA also referred to “inconsistencies” in BBC’s report, saying it fails to match the remarks made by Shakarami’s mother and aunt regarding the time and location of her disappearance.
Following the news of Shakarami’s disappearance and murder in September 2022, the Iranian state TV conducted interviews at that time with her mother and aunt who confirmed the government’s narrative that the teenager had committed suicide.
However, their later remarks regarding Shakarami’s murder prove that their interviews with the Iranian state TV were made under the pressure of the regime’s security forces, who have been notoriously involved in a long-standing tradition of forced interviews.
The flagship hardliner newspaper Kayhan and Javan daily, affiliated with the IRGC repeated the same accusations against the BBC investigation.
Meanwhile, Farhikhtegan newspaper, close to Iran’s hardliners, criticized the reactions of some ‘reformist’ politicians and figures to the report of the rape and murder of the protesting teenager.
“In Iran, several political figures that are opposed to some social policies, immediately endorsed the BBC report without any consideration,” Farhikhtegan wrote, further warning any confirmation of the report can “pave the way for a new crisis” in the country.
The relatively independent media in Iran, however, have been largely silent on the BBC investigation into the murdered teen in what seems an urgent order from the regime’s security and intelligence agencies. On Wednesday, the Tehran Prosecutor's Office filed charges against several journalists who have shared the report.