A judge in Iran has been forced to release a 15-year-old boy locked up with shotgun wounds after being forced to confess making a petrol bomb for anti-hijab protests.

The rapid release happened when his mother’s heartbreaking interview on her son’s plight went viral on social media.

Amirhossein Rahimi’s mother had told the Etemad newspaper that her son had been imprisoned after being shot and arrested in Karaj, Alborz Province, in north-western Iran on 13th October.

He reportedly had shotgun pellets in his head and chest from wounds caused by the security forces.

She said: “My son was arrested in Karaj on 13th October and I did not know his whereabouts for a week. Finally, I found him in a juvenile detention centre.”

His mother, who has not been named, said that in the mornings her son would go to school and in the afternoons he worked in an office at an estate agent’s to help support his family.

On the day of his arrest, the authorities announced a curfew, so his mother went to pick Amirhossein up from his work.

But he was arrested after being shot just metres from her after security forces attacked people in the building, she claimed.

The worried mum reportedly said that the authorities made him confess to having a Molotov cocktail, despite him telling her that he did not.

She also reportedly said that he refused to name any of his friends despite pressure from the security forces to do so.

Amirhossein’s bail was reportedly set at an astonishing IRR 500,000,000 (GBP 98,067.71), but his mum has said there is no way she can pay it.

She said that she is a single mum with two children and already had to sell her car last year to make ends meet.

Her interview reportedly went viral on social media, with the Etemad newspaper announcing on 15th December that the young boy had been released.

The Etemad political editor wrote on Twitter: “The people’s reactions caused the judge to back down and immediately issue the release order. This shows the power of the people. I hope the rest of the prisoners will be released.”

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 in Iran have killed at least 458 people, including 63 children, and injured at least 1,160, according to independent estimates. Eleven people have so far been sentenced to death by Iranian courts, with two executions carried out so far.

It is also understood that more than 18,000 people have been arrested.