An Iranian police chief has claimed that a 16-year-old boy who was reportedly shot during a protest actually died after being bitten by a dog.

Colonel Hassan Sheikhnejad, the police chief in Urmia, the largest city in West Azerbaijan Province, which is located in north-western Iran and borders Turkey, has claimed that Nima Shafighdoust, 16, who was allegedly wounded by direct gunfire from government forces during protests in Urmia, was in fact bitten by a dog and that he died due to an infection after he was released to his family.

His claim contradicts previous reports from independent Iranian media that say that Nima was shot by the security forces and that his family, fearing being arrested, tried to treat the gunshot wound at home.

Government forces then reportedly stormed the family home and seized Nima.

His lifeless corpse was then later handed over to his family, on Wednesday, 5th October, still according to independent Iranian media reports.

Mahsa Amini, 22, from Saqqez, Kurdistan Province, 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.

Anti-regime media are claiming that Mahsa’s medical records showing her history of heart disease were faked by the Iranian government.

The protests her death sparked are ongoing and, according to the non-profit Iran Human Rights, at least 201 people, including 28 children, have been killed so far, according to its latest figures released on 12th October.