- Coach Amir Mohammad Koohkan, 26, killed by live fire in Neyriz
- Student Rubina Aminian, 23, shot during Tehran protest
- Nearly 500 protesters and 48 security personnel reportedly dead; actual toll likely higher
A referee and a student are among hundreds reportedly killed during the ongoing anti-government protests in Iran.
Coach Amir Mohammad Koohkan, 26, was shot with live ammunition on 3 January during demonstrations in Neyriz, according to a friend who spoke to BBC Persian. “Everyone knew him for his kindness,” the friend said, adding that Koohkan’s family is both grieving and angry that he was killed “by the regime.”
Five days later, 23-year-old student Rubina Aminian was shot from behind during a protest in Tehran, according to human rights organisations. “She fought for what she knew was right,” her uncle told CNN.
A U.S.-based rights group says nearly 500 protesters and 48 security personnel have died in the first two weeks of protests, though sources inside Iran suggest the actual toll may be higher.
The demonstrations began on 28 December in Tehran over economic issues and have since spread to 186 cities across all 31 provinces, according to the Human Rights Activist News Agency (HRANA). They have grown into the largest anti-government protests in years, with calls for the end of the Islamic Republic and the rule of Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei.
The government has responded with a crackdown, with at least 10,600 people reportedly arrested and 496 protesters killed, HRANA says. Medical staff have described hospitals as overwhelmed with the dead and injured. BBC Persian verified that 70 bodies were brought to Poursina Hospital in Rasht on 9 January, while footage from a morgue near Tehran showed 180 body bags on the same night.
Koohkan, an indoor futsal coach and referee, was described by his friend as a kind and caring person: “From childhood, he was my coach, then became like a brother. He didn’t like to see people in misery… The whole town loved him.”
Aminian, a Kurdish student studying textile and fashion at Shariati Technical and Vocational College in Tehran, was reportedly shot by government forces. Two groups said she was shot in the head, while another said she was shot in the back. Her family travelled from Kermanshah to Tehran to identify her body and reportedly had to search through hundreds of bodies of young protesters. Authorities initially refused to release her body and reportedly forced the family to bury her along the road between Kermanshah and Kamyaran.
Iranian leader Khamenei has described protesters as “troublemakers,” while U.S. President Donald Trump has threatened possible military intervention. Iran has accused the protesters of being backed by the U.S. and Israel.
The protests are the largest since the 2022 uprising following the death of Mahsa Amini, a young Kurdish woman detained for allegedly not wearing her hijab properly. That uprising left over 550 people dead and 20,000 detained, according to human rights groups.
