Overview
- Hyrcani Human Rights and witnesses report that 19-year-old Diana Bahador was shot twice around midnight on January 8 in Gorgan during anti-government protests.
- Accounts cited in multiple outlets say security forces used heavy weapons to disperse demonstrators that night, and the body was returned to the family two days later.
- Family associates say authorities conditioned the release on a secret burial and a public statement calling the death an accident, echoed by a post on her Instagram account.
- Iranian state media dispute the shooting and claim the woman’s name was Shahrzad Mokhami who died in a January 22 highway crash in Golestan province.
- No independent investigation has been reported, as the case becomes a protest symbol during a crackdown that UN monitors estimate has left at least 5,000 people dead.