Secret document says Iran security forces molested and killed teen protester
An Iranian teenager was sexually assaulted and killed by three men working for Iran's security forces, a leaked document understood to have been written by those forces says.
It has let us map what happened to 16-year-old Nika Shakarami who vanished from an anti-regime protest in 2022.
Her body was found nine days later. The government claimed she killed herself.
We put the report's allegations to Iran's government and its Revolutionary Guards. They did not respond.
Marked "Highly Confidential", the report summarises a hearing on Nika's case held by the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) - the security force that defends the country's Islamic establishment. It includes what it says are the names of her killers and the senior commanders who tried to hide the truth.
They won't be able to topple the regime without outside assistance.
Unfortunately they're brown, so they don't get a blank check from the United States like Ukraine and Israel.
Brown people have to solve their own problems, or else it's colonization.
US intervenes: "this is imperialism! The US only wants Iranian oil. They don't care about brown people"
US does not intervene: "the US doesn't care about brown people!"
It’s more tricky given that US (and UK) intervention is how we got here.
The UK (and US - in that order) were directly responsible for the overthrow of Mossadegh's government and the resulting ~25 years of repression by the Shah, but while the resulting fall of the Shah was inevitable, the Islamic Revolution was not. It came on a knife's edge.
No they’re left wing compared to their government so they won’t get us assistance. Who do you think helped overthrow the liberal government of Iran?
But also Iran is a nuclear power and unhinged
The US government is absolutely working to destabilize the current Iranian government. They would love to see the people take over the country and restore democracy for a number of geopolitical reasons. Also "left wing compared to an Islamist theocracy" is still pretty conservative, the US isn't scared off by that haha.
It's more that, when the US isn't directly funding regime overthrows, we tend to take a "We'll come in with FULL support at the very last moment when we're certain who's going to win, so we can curry favor with expense but no risk."
In something of a cultural paradox, Iran is worse on LGB rights but significantly better on T rights than its western peers. So stark is the contrast that cis-gay men and women are often under pressure to transition in an attempt to become more socially acceptable to social conservatives in power.
If you compare the Israeli response to October 7th with the Iranian response to Israeli's bombing of their Syrian embassy or the US slaying of their General-turned-Ambassador Qasem Soleimani, I'd say they are some of the most hinged residents in the region.
They also haven't successfully conducted a nuclear test to date. They have ballistic missiles with traditional munitions, and they have some hypersonic rockets that have outclassed western missile defense systems (as evidenced by the post-embassy retaliation into the Israeli desert). But their nuclear capacity isn't even at North Korean tier, largely thanks to their lack of enrichable uranium.
So have you ever met an Iranian trans person? I’ve actually had a few lovely conversations with one. Is it not the death penalty to be a straight trans person? Yes. That’s actually why this lady was in America, as a lesbian she had to flee after transitioning. Also as a woman she’s treated like shit and while officially the government allows straight trans people (which btw the history and theology that led to this is wild) if you don’t transition perfectly in no time at all you’re at serious risk. I’d go so far as to say it is settled but not accepted doctrine.
And so as an American trans woman, trust me, I’d rather be in Alabama than Tehran, as would most of the trans women in Tehran.
Yes.
If you are a trans-man who is married to a woman, you are not subject to the death penalty, no.
That's definitely another problem. Although, again, in no way unique to Iran.
Are you an American trans-woman living in Alabama? Or are you saying that from a significant safe distance?
Because I've got Trans relatives in Texas, and they are planning to GTFO before the year is up.
Lol, I wonder if any trans people have migrated there for refuge.
Please pull more BS out of thin air. The most hinged house in the neighborhood is Iran? Get real.