Mother of Teenager Killed in Iran Protests Vows to Confront the Regime

Samira says she never used to be political. “I worked in sales in Iran. I sold cosmetics,” she told BBC Panorama.

That changed on the day her only child, 16-year-old Sevda, was shot dead in front of her by Iranian security forces. Sevda was taking part in protests against the Iranian government that spread across the country earlier this year, before the United States and Israel launched widespread air strikes that killed Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei.

A Mother’s Search for Her Daughter

Samira says her grief turned to anger when Iran’s authorities made her search for her daughter’s body harder. “I realised that finding Sevda wasn’t the end, but just the beginning of all the harassment they put me through.”

Sevda was killed on 9 January. She and Samira had joined large demonstrations on the outskirts of the capital, Tehran, which had begun the previous month. The protests were first sparked by economic discontent and later turned into calls for an end to the Islamic Republic.

Samira says Sevda was more political than she was. Sevda admired Mahsa Amini, whose death in custody after an alleged breach of the mandatory headscarf rule triggered mass protests, and Nika Shakarami, who was killed during a later uprising against the country’s dress code for women. “She kept them alive in her thoughts and always wanted to continue their path [of resistance],” Samira said.

Samira says she and Sevda had responded to a call by Reza Pahlavi, the exiled son of Iran’s last shah, to join demonstrations on 8 January. The next day, she says, the authorities announced a shoot-to-kill order. She had thought it was an empty threat. “We couldn’t imagine a massacre of that scale.”

She says protesters were also encouraged by a promise from US President Donald Trump. On 8 January, he told US media: “I have let [the Iranian authorities] know that if they start killing people, which they tend to do during their riots… we’re going to hit them very hard.”

The Day Sevda Was Killed

Samira says Sevda seemed aware of the risks. Before the protest, she gave her earrings to her grandmother and shared her phone passcode with her mother.

At the demonstration, Sevda stood on a dustbin and led a chant. Samira says the area seemed to be filled with more security forces than protesters, including members of the Basij and the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC).

Samira described what she saw. “A sniper fired from the roof of a building on our right. The bullet went through her heart. I just stared at Sevda – her body lying lifeless.”

She says she took Sevda to hospital and was told doctors were operating. Later, she saw her daughter had been placed in a body bag. Samira says it took her days to find Sevda’s body, which she eventually found at one of Tehran’s largest morgues. “Three bodies were piled on top of Sevda. That’s how we found her.”

Demands and Harassment

Samira says she was forced to say that “terrorists”, not security forces, were responsible for Sevda’s death before she was allowed to take the body for burial. She says the authorities did this to hide how many people had been killed.

She says she was later barred from visiting the grave or placing a tombstone. Shortly before the ceremony marking 40 days since Sevda’s death, she says she was summoned by a local branch of the Ministry of Intelligence. She claims officials asked her to give an interview saying Sevda was a Basij member killed by protesters, in exchange for benefits including a house.

Samira says she refused. She had shared Sevda’s death with a London-based Iranian media outlet after the internet was restored in the country. She left Iran after the 40-day ceremony, with the help of people smugglers, crossing rivers and mountains.

She says she continued to speak to foreign media from abroad and was later charged in absentia with several offences, including “moharebeh”, or waging war against God, which can carry the death penalty.

Naming Security Forces

Samira now publishes the names of members of Iran’s security forces and officials she believes fired fatal shots during the protests of 8 and 9 January. “My goal is for them to be identified so they can be put on trial,” she said.

After one man she named was found dead, a supporter of the government offered a reward of $5,000 for information about her whereabouts, presuming she was responsible. Iranian state media has reported the arrest of nine people in connection with the death.

Iranian authorities acknowledge that more than 3,000 people died in the protests, but say some were members of the security forces. The human rights group Hrana estimates that more than 7,000 people died, most of them protesters.

Iran’s Response

The Iranian embassy in London told Panorama that peaceful and legitimate protests were hijacked by foreign powers, including the US, which it said promoted violence, supplied weapons and equipment, and undermined public security.

Samira says she will not stay silent. “Every day and every second without Sevda is very difficult for me,” she said. “All those bodies I saw, all those body bags I opened looking for Sevda, they all made me fight the Islamic Republic until my last breath.”