This is the heartbreaking moment a carefree Iranian teen records a dance video with a pal without a hijab before sources say she was beaten to death by security police.

Tragic Nika Shakarami, 17, laughs on her way through the routine in video footage which has just come to light, local media reported on 26th October.

But a month ago (20th September) she went missing in Tehran during anti-hijab protests sweeping Iran in the wake of the brutal death of Mahsa Amini.

When her badly-battered body was returned to her family nearly a fortnight later, government officials claimed she had fallen from the top of a five-storey building.

But activists in the country have stated that the teenager was beaten to death after she was taken into police custody during the demonstrations.

Nika’s mother was reportedly told to keep silent after she accused Iranian officials of lying about how her child had died.

A medical examiner had reportedly told Nika’s mother that her daughter died as the result of “multiple blows from a hard object”.

Nika’s mum also said that the teen’s “cheeks, teeth and skull” had been smashed in after identifying her daughter’s body at the morgue.

New footage later emerged showing Nika standing on a platform and waving her hijab before burning it.

Additional reports have revealed that security officials took Nika’s body away from her family shortly before her burial.

Vocal critics of the political regime believe that her body may have been used as part of a planned stunt on the part of the government after disturbing images of the late teen splayed across the ground in a puddle of dried blood were broadcasted on national television.

Anti-regime activists believe the government may have used the images in an attempt to clear its name after being accused of carrying out the 17-year-old’s murder, according to reports.

Iran has been gripped by protests since 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.

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.