A 16-year-old Iranian schoolgirl has been beaten to death for failing to sing a pro-regime anthem, it has been reported.
Asra Panahi, 16, died after her Shaheed Girls High School was raided on Thursday and forces demanded the schoolgirls to sing an anthem in honour of Iran's supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei when the brave youngster was reportedly among of girls to refused to do so.
According to the Coordinating Council of Iranian Teachers' Trade Associations when the group of girls did not sing the pro-regime anthem, they were beaten by the forces with Panahi later succumbing to her injuries in hospital.
Iranian authorities have denied responsibility for Panahi's death, while her uncle reportedly went on state TV claiming that his niece had died of a congenital heart condition.
The incident comes as the Islamic republic has been struggling with one of the biggest and most long-lasting protests in its 43-year-old history.
Iran has been gripped for weeks by anti-government protests, as they first erupted last month following the death of 22-year-old Kurdish Iranian Mahsa Amini.
Mahsa, 22, from Saqqez, Kurdistan Province, was on a visit to Tehran when she was arrested by morality police accused of violating hijab rules on September 13.
She was allegedly beaten while in custody and spent the following days in a coma in the hospital before she died in the ICU on September 16.
Many Iranians were left outraged by her death, and have gone on to accuse security forces of beating her. However, Iranian authorities have insisted that she was not punished and passed away because of pre-existing conditions.
Anti-regime media claim that Mahsa's medical records showing her history of heart disease were faked by the Iranian government. Medical scans of her skull leaked by hackers allegedly show that she had suffered bone fractures, haemorrhages, and brain edema.
The protests her death sparked are ongoing and, at least 215 people, including 27 children, have been killed so far, according to the non-profit Iran Human Rights latest figures released on October 17.
Even Iranian celebrities are not immune to the brutal handling of security forces as a film star has publicly shown her bruised and battered face after she was summoned by Iranian security forces and held for several days.
Pantea Bahram, known to be one of Iran's most celebrated actors, shared to her 685,000 Instagram followers her bruised face on October 12.
The photo shows the 52-year-old actress with a livid right black eye and a painful-looking bruise and graze above her lip.
The picture which was her profile photo was changed again a few hours later, according to local media.
