Iranian security forces have told the family of a woman who went missing during an anti-hijab demonstration that she killed herself in a hotel.
Behnaz Afshari had been missing for five days after she left home to take part in a protest in the Iranian capital Tehran on Sunday, 23rd October.
Her heartbroken family – from Pakdasht County in Tehran Province – finally located her body in a city morgue.
Relatives said she was a happy and lively girl and had no signs of depression or suicidal tendencies, according to independent Iranian media.
Now security forces are applying pressure on her family to accept her death as a suicide, according to independent Iranian media.
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.
Dissident Iranian activists have now reportedly said that over 400 people have died as a result of security forces cracking down on the protests gripping the country.
