A sports referee and a university student are among the hundreds of people reportedly killed amid widespread anti-government protests across Iran, according to human rights groups and media reports.
Twenty-six-year-old coach and referee Amir Mohammad Koohkan was shot with live ammunition on 3 January during demonstrations in the town of Neyriz, a close friend told BBC Persian.
“Everyone knew him for his kindness,” the friend said, adding that Koohkan’s family is grieving and “angry because he was killed by the regime.”
Five days later, 23-year-old student Rubina Aminian was fatally shot during a protest in Tehran, according to multiple rights organisations. “She fought for things she knew were right,” her uncle told CNN.
A US-based human rights group estimates that nearly 500 protesters and 48 members of the security forces have been killed within two weeks of unrest. Sources inside Iran have told the BBC that the actual death toll may be higher.
The demonstrations began on 28 December in Tehran over economic grievances and quickly spread nationwide. According to the Human Rights Activist News Agency (HRANA), protests have taken place in 186 cities across all 31 provinces.
What started as economic protests has evolved into the largest wave of unrest Iran has seen in years, with demonstrators calling for an end to the Islamic Republic and the rule of Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei.
Authorities have responded with a sweeping crackdown. HRANA reports that at least 10,600 people have been arrested and 496 protesters killed so far.
Medical workers have described hospitals overwhelmed with casualties. BBC Persian verified that 70 bodies were delivered to Poursina Hospital in Rasht on 9 January, while footage from a morgue near Tehran showed at least 180 body bags believed to have been filmed the same night.
Independent reporting has been hampered by an internet shutdown imposed by Iranian authorities since Thursday, along with restrictions on foreign media access.
Koohkan, an indoor futsal coach and referee, was killed in Neyriz in Iran’s Fars Province. His friend, who cited eyewitness accounts, said he was known for his compassion and concern for others.
“It was far too soon for him, really far too soon. He was so young,” the friend said.
Having known Koohkan for a decade, the friend described him as “someone who didn’t like to see people in this state… in this misery.”
“Everyone knew him for his kindness and good nature. The whole town loved him,” the friend added. “The family are both grieving and angry. Grieving because they lost their son, angry because he was killed by the regime.”
Aminian, a Kurdish student, was also among those killed. Rights groups including Norway-based Iran Human Rights (IHRNGO) and Kurdish organisation Hengaw said she was shot in the head, while the Kurdistan Human Rights Network reported she was shot in the back. Both Kurdish groups alleged she was shot by government forces. The BBC has not been able to independently verify the circumstances.
The 23-year-old, whose name has also been spelled Robina or Roubina, was studying textile and fashion design at Shariati Technical and Vocational College in Tehran, according to IHRNGO.
“She was a strong girl, a courageous girl, and she was not someone you could control and make decisions for,” her uncle told CNN. “She fought for things she knew were right and fought hard.”
He added that she was “thirsty for freedom, thirsty for women’s rights.”
“Overall, she was a girl who was alive, who lived.”
Family members travelled from their hometown of Kermanshah in western Iran to Tehran to identify her body, a source close to the family told IHRNGO. According to the source, they were forced to search through hundreds of bodies near her college.
“It wasn’t just my daughter; I saw hundreds of bodies with my own eyes,” Aminian’s mother said, according to the source.
The family alleged that authorities initially refused to release Aminian’s body and later barred burial and mourning ceremonies in her hometown. She was reportedly buried along the road between Kermanshah and Kamyaran.
Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei has dismissed protesters as “troublemakers,” while US President Donald Trump has warned of possible intervention, saying the US military is considering “very strong options.”
Iranian officials have accused protesters of being supported by the United States and Israel.
The unrest marks the most extensive protests since the 2022 uprising triggered by the death in custody of Mahsa Amini, a young Kurdish woman detained by Iran’s morality police for allegedly violating hijab rules. That wave of protests left more than 550 people dead and 20,000 detained, according to human rights organisations.
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