Abdorrahman Boroumand Center

for Human Rights in Iran

https://www.iranrights.org
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One Person’s Story

Atefeh Na'ami

About

Age: 37
Nationality: Iran
Religion: Presumed Muslim
Civil Status: Single

Case

Date of Killing: November 26, 2022
Location of Killing: Azimieh, Arsham Building, Karaj, Alborz Province, Iran
Mode of Killing: Other extrajudicial method

About this Case

Atefeh: "There should never be a compromise on the right to life."

Information regarding the extrajudicial execution of Ms. Atefeh Na'ami, daughter of Atieh Na'ami and Fuzieh Bakhtiari, was obtained from interviews conducted by the Abdorrahman Boroumand Center (ABC) with Ms. Na'ami’s sister in Germany (February 6, 2023 - July 15-16, 2024), interviews with Ms. Na'ami’s brothers, Mohammad Amin and Abas Na'ami (September 20, 2023, November 20, and December 6, 2023), and official correspondence with Dr. Karen L. Kelly, a forensic pathologist and cardiologist (October 8, 2023). Additional information was taken from a letter from the Head of the Criminal Investigation Department to the Deputy Prosecutor of District 1 in Karaj (December 3, 2022), a report from the Alborz Provincial Police Department (December 3, 2022), IRNA (December 4, 2022), Hamshahri Online (December 4, 2022), TV Kalameh (December 2, 2022), IranWire (December 2, 2022), Iran International TV (December 5, 2022), and interviews with the victim's brother, Mohammad Amin Na'ami, with Iran International (December 6, 2022 and December 27, 2022). In addition, a video of Atefeh Na'ami's sister demanding justice during a protest in Hamburg, Germany, on January 18, 2023, and coverage by Iran International's X Network (January 19, 2023) were used.

Atefeh Na'ami was born on August 6, 1985, in Ahvaz. Ms. Na'ami was the second youngest of twelve children in her family. She obtained her bachelor's degree in accounting in Ahvaz. Subsequently, she moved to Karaj, where she pursued her studies in architecture at the Islamic Azad University in Tehran while working in the accounting department of an import-export company. According to her relatives, Ms. Na'ami had a fiancé and was preparing for her wedding.

One of Ms. Na'ami's sisters, with whom she was particularly close, described her as a cheerful and well-organized person, noting that her home was consistently well-maintained and tidy. Additionally, she was a staunch proponent of gender equality and opposed the mandatory hijab, maintaining that no fundamental rights should be compromised. (Interview with ABC, February 6, 2023) Additionally, Ms. Na'ami's brother described her as someone with a keen interest in history, social and political issues, and a strong belief in pursuing social justice. He also mentioned her commitment to charitable activities, such as helping the elderly and caring for homeless animals. (IranWire, November 28, 2022)

According to her family, Ms. Na'ami actively participated in the nationwide protests in Iran in 2022 that erupted following the news of the death of Jina (Mahsa) Amini – a 22-year-old Kurdish woman who fell into a coma and died after being detained by the so-called "morality police" in Tehran. She went out to the streets every time there was a call for action, declaring that she couldn't stay at home and felt a "duty to protest." She disseminated her notes on the themes of "Women, Life, Freedom" and Mahsa Amini among the general public, urging them to participate in the demonstrations. In response to her sisters' requests for extra caution, she replied that her blood was no more precious than others who were being killed in the streets every day. (Interview with ABC, February 6, 2023; IranWire, November 28, 2022)

2022 (Mahsa Amini) Protest background

Nationwide protests were sparked by the death in custody of 22-year old Kurdish woman Jina (Mahsa) Amini on September 16, 2022. Amini had been arrested by the morality police in Tehran for improper veiling on September 13 and sent brain dead to the hospital. The news of her death triggered protests, which started with a widespread expression of outrage on social media and the gathering of a large crowd in front of the hospital,continued in the city of Saqqez (Kordestan Province), where Mahsa was buried. Popular exasperation over the morality patrols and the veil in general, aggravated by misleading statements of the authorities regarding the cause of Mahsa’s death and the impunity generally granted to state agents for the violence used against detainees led to months of nationwide protests. Initially led by young girls and women who burned their veils, and youth in general, protesters adopted the slogan “Women, Life, Freedom,” chanted during Amini’s burial. The protest rapidly took on a clear anti-regime tone, with protesters calling for an end to the Islamic Republic. 

The scope and duration of the protest was unprecedented. State efforts to withdraw the morality police from the streets and preventative arrests of journalists and political and civil society activists did not stop the protests. By the end of December 2022, protests had taken place in about 164 cities and towns, including localities that had never witnessed protests. Close to 150 universities, high schools, businesses, and groups including oil workers, merchants of the Tehran bazaar (among others), teachers, lawyers (at least 49 of whom had been arrested as of February 1st, 2023), artists, athletes, and even doctors joined these protests in various forms. Despite the violent crackdown and mass arrests, intense protests continued for weeks, at least through November 2022, with reports of sporadic activity continuing through the beginning of 2023.

The State’s crackdown was swift and accompanied by intermittent landline and cellular internet network shutdowns, as well as threats against and arrests of victims’ family members, factors which posed a serious challenge to monitoring protests and documenting casualties. The security forces used illegal, excessive, and lethal force with handguns, shotguns, and military assault rifles against protesters. They often targeted protesters’ heads and chests, shot them at close range, and in the back. Security forces have targeted faces with pellets, causing hundreds of protesters to lose their eyesight, and according to some reports women’s genitalia. The bloodiest crackdown took place on September 30th in Zahedan, Baluchestan Province, where a protest began at the end of the Friday sermon. The death toll is reported to be above 90 for that day. Security forces shot protesters outside and worshipers inside the Mosala prayer hall. Many injured protesters, fearing arrest, did not go to hospitals where security forces have reportedly arrested injured protesters before and after they were treated.

 By February 1, 2023, the Human Rights Activists News Agency reported the number of recorded protests to be 1,262. The death toll, including protesters and passersby, stood at 527, of whom 71 were children. The number of arrests (including of wounded protesters) was estimated at a minimum at 22,000 , of whom 766 had already been tried and convicted. More than 100 protesters were at risk of capital punishment, and four had been executed in December 2022 and January 2023 without minimum standards of due process. Authorities also claimed 70 casualties among state forces, though there are consistent reports from families of killed protesters indicating authorities have pressured them or offered them rewards to falsely register their loved ones as such. Protesters, human rights groups, and the media have reported cases of beatings, torture (including to coerce confessions), and sexual assaults. Detainees have no access to lawyers during interrogations and their confessions are used in courts as evidence.

Public support and international solidarity with protesters have also been unprecedented (the use of the hashtag #MahsaAmini in Farsi and English broke world records) and on November 24, 2022, the UN Human Rights Council adopted a resolution calling for the creation of a fact finding mission to “Thoroughly and independently investigate alleged human rights violations in the Islamic Republic of Iran related to the protests that began on 16 September 2022, especially with respect to women and children.”

Background of Extrajudicial Killings by the Islamic Republic of Iran

The Islamic Republic of Iran has a long history of politically motivated violence in Iran and around the world. Since the 1979 Revolution, Islamic Republic operatives inside and outside the country have engaged in kidnapping, disappearing, and killing a large number of individuals whose activities they deemed undesirable. The actual number of the victims of extrajudicial killings inside Iran is not clear; however, these murders began in February 1979 and have continued since then, both inside and outside Iran. The Abdorrahman Boroumand Center has so far identified over 540 killings outside Iran attributed to the Islamic Republic of Iran.

Dissidents have been assassinated by the agents of the Islamic Republic outside Iran in countries such as the Philippines, Indonesia, Japan, India, and Pakistan in Asia; Dubai, Iraq, and Turkey in the Middle East; Cyprus, France, Italy, Austria, Switzerland, Germany, Norway, Sweden, and Great Britain in Europe; and the United States across the Atlantic Ocean. In most cases, there has not been much published, and local authorities have not issued arrest warrants. But documentation, evidence, and traces obtained through investigations conducted by local police and judicial authorities confirm the theory of state committed crimes. In some instances, these investigations have resulted in the expulsion or arrest of Iranian diplomats. In a few cases outside Iran, the perpetrators of these murders have been arrested and put on trial. The evidence presented revealed the defendants’ connection to Iran’s government institutions, and an arrest warrant has been issued for Iran’s Minister of Information.

The manner in which these killings were organized and implemented in Iran and abroad is indicative of a single pattern which, according to Roland Chatelin, the Swiss prosecutor, contains common parameters and detailed planning. It can be ascertained from the similarities between these murders in different countries that the Iranian government is the principal entity that ordered the implementation of these crimes. Iranian authorities have not officially accepted responsibility for these murders and have even attributed their commission to internal strife in opposition groups. Nevertheless, since the very inception of the Islamic Republic regime, the Islamic Republic officials have justified these crimes from an ideological and legal standpoint. In the spring of 1979, Sadeq Khalkhali, the first Chief Shari’a Judge of the Islamic Revolutionary Courts, officially announced the regime’s decision to implement extrajudicial executions and justified the decision: “ … These people have been sentenced to death; from the Iranian people’s perspective, if someone wants to assassinate these individuals abroad, in any country, no government has any right to bring the perpetrator to trial as a terrorist, because such a person is the implementing agent of the sentence issued by the Islamic Revolutionary Court. Therefore, they are Mahduroddam and their sentence is death regardless of where they are.” More than 10 years after these proclamations, in a speech about the security forces’ success, Ali Fallahian, the regime’s Minister of Information, stated the following regarding the elimination of members of the opposition: “ … We have had success in inflicting damage to many of these little groups outside the country and on our borders.”

At the same time, various political, judicial, and security officials of the Islamic Republic of Iran have, at different times and occasions, confirmed the existence of a long term government policy for these extrajudicial killings and in some cases their implementation. 

Read more about the background of extrajudicial killings in the Islamic Republic of Iran by clicking on the left hand highlight with the same title.

Ms. Atefeh Na’ami’s extrajudicial execution 

According to available information, Atefeh Na'ami's body was found on November 26, 2022, on her apartment balcony in Azimieh, Karaj.

Atefeh Na’ami: "My blood is no more precious than others who are being killed in the streets every day.

Her last contact with her sister, who lives in Germany, was on Friday, November 18, 2022, at 6:52 p.m. According to Ms. Na'ami's sister, "Atefeh was chanting slogans on the balcony, and my phone was on speaker. My husband and I could hear her chanting 'women, life, freedom,' and my little son, who couldn't repeat it well, was saying 'women, freedom.' Atefeh shouted loudly, 'Down with the dictator,' and the sounds were so loud that we could hear others responding and joining in. As she was chanting, she suddenly shouted, 'They fired tear gas. She said she had to quickly close the balcony door and turn off a small light that was on in her house. The next morning I sent her a text message asking if everything was okay. She replied: "Stay calm and everything is fine. The following day I texted again but got no reply. I called but got no answer. On Sunday, I kept sending messages and seeing them delivered, but she didn't answer. I kept thinking that maybe she was somewhere and couldn't respond. But when I called her landline, she always called back quickly, assuring me she was fine. This time, however, she didn't return my phone calls".

Concerned by her uncharacteristic silence and afraid that her sister had been identified on the balcony of her apartment, Mrs. Na’ami's sister asked her nephew to go to Atefeh's house. "On November 26 my nephew called Atefeh’s fiance and asked him to go to Atefeh's house, saying that he was also on the way to Karaj with a family member. Atefeh's fiancé arrived at the apartment. He rang the doorbell, but no one answered. He contacted a locksmith.” Ms. Na'ami's family members noticed a note on her apartment door warning of a gas leak and advising caution.

One of Mrs. Na'ami's sisters, living in Tehran, had gone to Ahvaz with her son for the wedding of a relative. Atefeh had bought a dress for the celebration and was supposed to attend the event on November 22, 2022. But she never showed up. Concerned about not hearing from Ms. Na'ami, her sister decided to return to Tehran. Unfortunately, she could not purchase a ticket until November 26 due to flight interruptions resulting from the protests. When she and her son arrived back in Tehran on November 26, she made another attempt to contact Ms. Na'ami, but she still did not receive a response. On the same day, after contacting Ms. Na'ami's fiancé, who was on his way to Atefeh's home, they also left for Karaj.

At 9:45 p.m. on November 26, Ms. Na'ami's fiancé arrived at her apartment at 13 Helal Ahmar Street in Azimieh, Karaj, and rang the doorbell several times. Finally, with the help of a locksmith, he entered the apartment and found Ms. Na'ami's dead body on the balcony, which was emitting a strong odor. He then contacted the police and Ms. Na'ami's family. Around 11 p.m., the police, a homicide detective and an investigator arrived at the scene. Ms. Na'ami's sister told the Boroumand Center that the family was not allowed to see the body, but a relative was able to observe that there were bruises on Atefeh's abdomen and body that were light purple and turning yellow. According to her, based on their observations, the local police informed Ms. Naami's family that her death was not suicide. Ms. Na'ami's body was taken to the forensic medicine office that night and there, the family was told that she had committed suicide, contradicting the previous statement of local police, but a neighbor later reported hearing sounds of a struggle and argument coming from Ms. Na'ami's apartment at approximately 10 p.m. on November 21. The neighbor reported hearing noises and Ms. Na'ami’s struggle for a chance. The neighbor also saw two or three men in Ms. Na'ami's apartment, one of whom told another to close the door, followed by the sound of breaking glass. After that, Ms. Na'ami's voice was not heard. According to Ms. Na'ami's brother, who had seen the apartment, the glass was still cracked but had only been covered with newspaper and not been replaced. (Interview with ABC, July 15, 2024)

In its report, the Alborz Provincial Police Criminal Investigation Department stated that Atefeh Na'ami's dead body was found in her apartment in Azimieh, Karaj, lying on her side on the balcony with the gas pipe for the wall-mounted water heater under a blanket (IRNA, December 4, 2022). The Alborz provincial police report, dated December 03, 2022, listed the cause of death as "gas poisoning," noted the discovery of the body on November 26, 2022, and classified the report as a "suicide," even though the homicide police officer at the scene had informed Ms. Na'ami's family that the death was not a suicide based on clinical observations (interview with ABC, February 6, 2023).

The Chief Justice of Alborz Province announced that the approximate date of death was November 21, 2022. Domestic media published a will signed and fingerprinted by Ms. Na'ami, dated November 15, 2022, in which she bequeathed her belongings to her sisters and brother, bade farewell to her fiancé, and asked that no disrespect be done to him. (IRNA, December 4, 2022)

According to Ms. Na'ami's relatives, her body was examined by the forensic medicine department until approximately 12:30 a.m. on November 27, and that night it was transferred to Behesht-e-Sakineh cemetery in a body bag. One of Ms. Na'ami's close relatives mentioned that all legal procedures regarding the body were completed quickly, and at approximately 4:30 a.m. the next day, an order was issued to transfer the body to Ahvaz. Government officials transported Ms. Na'ami's body to Ahvaz by car, stating that airplane transportation was not possible, while the family traveled to Ahvaz by plane. Ms. Na'ami's brother arranged the funeral and was only able to see his sister's face at the police station. The authorities, emphasizing the decomposition of the body, did not allow the body to be washed. (Interview with ABC, July 15, 2024)

At 10 a.m. on Monday, November 28, 2022, the authorities hurriedly buried Ms. Na'ami in the Behesht-Abad cemetery in Ahvaz, with only a few women from her family present, despite having told her family that the funeral would take place at 1 p.m. (Interview with ABC, February 6, 2023)

Officials’ Reaction

Hosein Fazeli Harikandi (the Chief Justice of Alborz Province) announced that the approximate date of death was November 21, 2022. Regarding the details of Atefeh Na'ami's death, he stated that she committed suicide and that the forensic reports did not find any signs of physical trauma on her body. He added that the body had only decomposed. He stated that Ms. Na'ami's death was a suicide based on the will (handwritten notes), the door locked from the inside, and the lack of visible injuries. The chief justice also said that reports of injuries and torture were completely baseless and that there was no record of any cases or arrests in connection with the recent events. He cited that the fiancé of Ms. Na'ami has also strongly denied her participation in the recent protests. (IRNA, December 4, 2022)

The authorities never sent the case to the Criminal Investigation Department. (IRNA, December 4, 2022) According to a source close to the family, there are numerous inconsistencies in Ms. Na'ami's case, which have caused tension between the forensic team and the investigator, and the officials handling the case have changed twice. Ms. Na'ami's sister says that the investigator told her brother that Atefeh's death was not a suicide but a murder and that the cause of death was asphyxiation due to lack of oxygen. According to her sister, the case has already had four different investigators. (Interview with ABC, July 15, 2024)

Authorities have forced the family to remain silent. According to Atefeh's brother, the family has been under surveillance in Iran by intelligence officials to prevent them from sharing any more information. He had previously been informed that there would be no burial permit for his sister if he spoke to the media. (IranWire, December 1, 2022) Ms. Na'ami's sister reported that the Ministry of Intelligence summoned her brother living in Iran and forced him to contact her other brother in Austria, aggressively telling him not to publicize her sister's death. He insisted the government was not involved in his sister's death. They also pressured her nephew to emotionally influence his uncle and persuade him to remain silent. According to Ms. Na'ami's sister, her family is under immense pressure in Iran. When the family members tried to fly from Ahvaz to Karaj to take care of Ms. Na'ami's matters, none of them were allowed to leave Ahvaz, and this order came from the intelligence officials.

She stated, "My brother explicitly told us not to contact him regarding Atefeh. He also informed us that his phone is being tapped because he has dealings with intelligence officials. They even summoned my uncle, who is the oldest of the Na'ami tribe, to the intelligence office." (Interview with ABC, February 6, 2023)

Expert Opinion

ABC provided the available information to Dr. Karen L. Kelley, a forensic pathologist with expertise in cardiology and vascular medicine, and requested her specialized analysis on the matter. Dr. Kelley was clear that the police should not determine the cause of death after investigating the apartment. She also stated that the existing forensic report did not confirm that the cause of death was suicide. According to her, "There are tests to detect gas inhalation, but since gas particles dissipate over time, it is difficult to confirm the presence of gas in the blood after a week."

After a thorough examination of the evidence related to Ms. Na'ami's death, Dr. Kelley made a clear statement to ABC: "It's impossible that the gas hose was used for suicide. It's far too small…Based on all the evidence, I am convinced that this death scene has been staged." Dr. Kelley is certain that "suffocation with gas through the mouth without any obstruction in the nasal passages is unlikely, and overall, this method of suicide is unusual…Typically, if someone intends to commit suicide using gas, they do it in an enclosed space (like a garage, closet, or home) with a device that blocks oxygen from reaching their lungs. They often cover their heads with a plastic bag and insert a tube into the bag to prevent the inhalation of regular air."

Dr. Kelley also explained the bruising: "The yellowing of the skin is an indication that the bruising occurred after death. However, it is usually not easily visible in a decomposed body. It is challenging to see bruises in a body that has undergone moderate to extensive decomposition due to the color changes that occur during this process."

Dr. Kelley commented on the refusal to transport the body by airplane and the family's request to wash Ms. Na'ami's body due to decomposition: "There is no problem with moving a decomposing body by public transportation, nor is there a problem with washing the body, except that it is a difficult experience for those doing the cleaning."

Familys’ Reaction

Ms. Na'ami's sister is certain that her participation in the protests led her sister to write a will. She believes her sister anticipated her own death: “Atefeh made it clear that I should know what she had and what she didn't. She was very specific about the risks, saying that anything could happen and that people are being shot in the back.” According to Ms. Na'ami's sister, "The family has received her cell phone back, but there is no way to recover the data from it.”

Ms. Na'ami's family is convinced she was killed by government officials and has no doubt the suicide theory is false for several reasons:

  • No one can enter the apartment without prior permission. The caretaker is the only person who can grant access, and only if the resident confirms it.

  • CCTV footage of the building was out of order from 10 PM on November 30 until 4 PM the next day. There were no recordings during that period.

  • The family has also been unable to contact the building's janitor. It is unclear why the janitor did not notice that Ms. Na’ami or her driver had not been showing up for several days.

  • The family is also concerned about the disappearance of Ms. Na’ami’s elderly driver, who used to handle her daily shopping and other errands. Despite their best efforts, they have been unable to find any information about him.

  • The family outright rejects the gas suicide claim. They are adamant that she did not have the gas hose allegedly used for the suicide at her home.Her sister mentions: "My sister wasn't technically skilled at all and needed help with even the smallest tasks. How could such a hose have appeared and been connected? Furthermore, if she had committed suicide with gas, the gas flow should have remained open after her death, but it did not.” The gas company officials did not come to inspect the home or seal it off. Despite following up with the gas company, her brother was told that they had no information about the matter.

  • The balcony door was open, but there was not a trace of dust in her house. The dining table was completely free of dust. Contrary to usual procedure, the police disposed of some items, claiming that they emitted an unpleasant odor. These items, which her brother believes could have been evidence, were discarded.

  • The family finds it strange that the body was found on the balcony in that condition. They say: "Atefeh loved her bed so much that she had to sleep in it, and the air on the balcony was cold this time of year. Atefeh was very sensitive to the cold, so it's unlikely she would have slept on the balcony. The body was found on a carpet with only a thin blanket on it. Another detail we noticed was that my sister was clutching the carpet with her hands, as if she was struggling. My brother also pointed out that she never slept on the floor, especially not on the balcony, and this action was completely out of character for her.

  • Regarding the unusual and disorganized state of the apartment, Ms. Na’ami’s sister says: "When my brother opened Atefeh's refrigerator, the juices and groceries were neatly arranged inside, and there was even a glass of drink on the table that hadn't been touched. Knowing Atefeh, there's no way her clothes would be strewn all over the floor. She was very particular about the organization of even the smallest items in her home and paid meticulous attention to detail.” (ABC interview, February 6, 2023; July 16, 2023 – Kalameh TV, November 29, 2022)

At the Hamburg solidarity protests, Ms. Na'ami's sister delivered a speech in which she discussed her sister's desire to make a significant impact and declared that, as the late Ms. Na'ami's surviving sister and a representative of the families of other victims who remain in forced silence, she is calling for action on this day, rather than inaction. (Video of Ms. Na’ami's sister's speech at the January 18, 2023, Hamburg protest, as reported by Iran International on January 9, 2023)

Impacts on Family

According to Mohammad Amin Na'ami, his family has been under pressure and threats from government officials to refrain from speaking out about the death of his sister. He said the family's mental state has been deeply affected by this situation. Although she was born into a large family, each of Ms. Na’ami's siblings had a close relationship with her, and her death – especially under these circumstances – is both painful and unbelievable for them.

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