A prominent award-winning Iranian LGBT activist has claimed that murdered teenager Nika Shakarami was part of the community.

The family of Nika Shakarami, 17, who was allegedly murdered by the Iranian security forces in Tehran, have hit back at the claim and said that she was straight.

The body of Nika, who disappeared after attending a protest in Tehran, Iran, was reportedly returned to her family, showing signs of torture and with her skull crushed after she was thrown off a building, allegedly by the Iranian security forces.

Then, award-winning Iranian writer and LGBT activist Shadi Amin, 58, reportedly claimed that Nika was part of the LGBT community and presented her posthumously with an “Emergence of Lesbians” award.

Receiving the award on behalf of the murdered teenager, Amin said: “Nika was one of the hundreds and even thousands of members of the LGBT community who risked their lives for the victory of this revolution. Pictures of their friendships, videos of their words, and photos and posts on social networks lead us to their gay love and queer lives.”

Amin was reportedly referring to an article about Nika’s friendship with a German girl published in the German newspaper Zeit, which wrote: “Rumours of Nika and [her German friend] Nele have been circulating in Persian social media channels for weeks: Nika Shakarami, it is said, had a German girlfriend.”

But Nika’s family have hit back saying: “Nika was a heterosexual and at the beginning of discovering her sexual identity.”

Atesh Shakarami, Nika’s aunt, said on Instagram: “Is it possible to make a definite opinion on the friendship of two fifteen- and sixteen-year-old teenagers, one in Germany and the other in Iran? Wasn’t it necessary for you to call her family and ask about this to clarify?”

Amin reportedly told BBC Farsi: “My life experience as a teenager in the Iranian revolution and the majority of teenagers and young people in the LGBT community in Iran is to hide from the family and fear losing them if our differences become public.”

Amin was forced to leave Iran in the early 1980s because of her political activities. Amin is currently living in exile in Germany.

She is a founding member of the Iranian Women’s Network Association (SHABAKEH) and is currently one of the coordinators of the Iranian Lesbian Network (6Rang).

As part of her work with 6Rang, she regularly provides advice to the United Nations on human rights in Iran.

Iranian forces have been cracking down on waves of civil disorder following the death of Mahsa Amini, 22, from Saqqez, Kurdistan Province, who was on a visit to Tehran when she was arrested by morality police, accused of violating hijab rules on 13th September.

She was allegedly beaten while in custody and spent the following days in a coma in the hospital before succumbing in the ICU on 16th September.

The clinic where she was treated said in a now-deleted social media post that she had been admitted brain-dead.

Alleged medical scans of her skull leaked by hackers showed that she had suffered bone fractures, haemorrhages, and brain oedema.

Independent Iranian media have claimed that Mahsa’s medical records showing her history of heart disease were faked by the Iranian government.

Numbers differ regarding how many people have been killed since the protests began.

The ongoing protests have so far claimed at least 378 lives, including 47 children, and injured at least 1,160, according to independent estimates.

It is also understood that over 17,000 people have so far been arrested.