Robina Aminian, 23, a university student in Tehran, had dreams of moving to Milan to pursue a career in the fashion industry. On her Instagram account, she was seen proudly showing off traditional Kurdish costumes.
According to the Norway-based Iranian Human Rights NGO (IHRNGO), she left Tehran Shariati University of Technology, where she was studying fashion design, on Thursday to join anti-regime rallies in the capital.
“She was a strong girl, a courageous girl, and she wasn’t someone you could control or make decisions about. She fought for what she knew was right, and she fought hard,” her uncle Nezar Minoei told CNN.
“She was hungry for freedom, she was hungry for women’s rights, rights,” her uncle said. “Overall, she was a lively girl.”
According to Norway-based human rights organization Hengau, Amiens was shot and killed during a protest.
Despite several days of internet blackouts, CNN is learning more details about some of the Iranians killed in security forces’ violent crackdown on anti-government protests sweeping the country.
More than 500 protesters, including nine children, have been killed in anti-government protests over the past 16 days, according to the US-based Human Rights Activists News Agency (HRANA). CNN cannot independently verify these numbers.
The latest death toll came as multiple sources in Iran told CNN that Iranian security forces are responding to dissent with violence. Two Tehran residents, speaking on condition of anonymity for security reasons, said they witnessed security forces brandishing rifles and killing “many people” on Friday. Another witness said he saw “bodies folded on top of each other” at the hospital.
Minoei said Amian’s family detailed the harrowing scenes they encountered as they drove from their home in Kermanshah, western Iran, to Tehran to retrieve his body.
Her father said Amiens’ body was kept with the bodies of numerous young people between the ages of 18 and 22. “Almost all of them had been shot in the head and neck,” Minoei said.
According to her uncle, authorities initially refused to return her daughter’s body. When the family was finally able to retrieve her remains, they were forced to bury her with their own hands without any rituals, he added.
“As a family, we are heartbroken, but our heads are held high because our daughter was martyred fighting on the road to freedom, the road to a better life,” Amiens’ uncle said.
Despite the risks, defiant protesters continue to show up in large numbers across the country. Provoked by the devastating economic situation, demonstrations spread to many cities in all 31 provinces of Iran.
Protesters in Iran are at risk of death in a variety of ways, from being shot dead by security forces in the street to being prosecuted for destroying property under the crime of “mohalebe,” which translates to “waging war against God,” a crime that carries the death penalty.
Ebrahim Yousifi, a father of three, was shot in the head during a protest in Kermanshah in western Iran on Thursday, his cousin told CNN. Yusifi, a 42-year-old hospital worker, leaves behind two sons and a daughter, said a cousin who asked not to be named for security reasons.
A cousin says he has been “completely cut off” from contacting his family since Thursday as the internet blackout in Iran drags on, with experts warning the outage is unprecedented in scale.
“Even our relatives in the Kurdistan region of Iraq have not been able to contact anyone in Iran to confirm whether the bodies have been returned. The response of the authorities in the Kurdistan region is much harsher than in many other parts of the country,” his cousin said.
Former champion bodybuilder and coach Mehdi Zatparvar was killed on Friday during a protest in the city of Rasht in Iran’s northwestern Gilan province, Norway-based human rights group Hengau reported.
According to the International Federation of Fitness and Bodybuilding, the 39-year-old athlete is a two-time World Classic Bodybuilding Champion. Zatparvar had a master’s degree in sports physiology and was widely regarded as an experienced coach at Gilan, Hengaard said.
“We only want our rights. We must shout out the voices that have been suppressed for 40 years,” Zatparwal wrote in his latest Instagram post, according to pro-reform news outlet Iranwire. His Instagram account has now been deleted.
A nationwide internet blackout was extended into a fifth day starting Tuesday, but several details have emerged, often through human rights groups with ties to the country.
The identities of many victims of the protests that rocked the city of Azna in western Iran’s Lorestan province on January 1 have also been identified.
Shayan Asadullahi, a hairdresser and model enthusiast, was killed by government forces on January 1, according to pro-reform activist IranWire. The 28-year-old, who has more than 50,000 followers on Instagram, used to post videos of himself styling his hair on social media.
According to Iranwire, 17-year-old Reza Moradi Abdulwand was also targeted by security forces in Azna that day and fell into a coma. The auto body repair apprentice passed away on Monday, January 5, after being hospitalized for several days.
According to IranWire, Ahmadreza Amani, 28, was training to become a lawyer and was an intern at the Yazd Bar Association. According to IranWire, the government buried his body four days after the January 1 protests and later revealed its location to his family.
Hengor said the dead included artists and sculptors from the eastern city of Mashhad.
Citing a report he received, Hengo said Mehdi Sarashur, a married father of two, was killed when security forces fired live ammunition at protesters.
Hengo said that in addition to his own art, Salashur was also a sculpture instructor and ran a stone carving studio.
In a sign of how widespread the protests have become, protesters were also reportedly killed on Qeshm Island in the country’s far south, near the Strait of Hormuz.
One of them, Ako Mohammadi, was a 22-year-old Kurdish man from Saras Babajani in the northwest of the country. Hengor said he was shot dead by government forces during a protest in the city of Qeshm in the eastern part of the island.
Human rights groups, citing “informed sources,” said Iranian authorities had demanded money for the return of the bodies.
CNN has not been able to independently verify these reports due to ongoing communications outages in Iran. CNN has reached out to Iran’s Foreign Ministry for comment.
CNN’s Nechirvan Mando, Billy Stockwell, Banafsheh Keynoush and Lucas Lilieholm contributed reporting.
