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Mehdi Zatparvar, Robina Aminian, and Ebrahim Yousef were reportedly killed during anti-government protests in Iran in early January 2026, according to relatives and human rights groups. (Social Media via CNN Newsource)
By Caitlin Danaher and Mostafa Salem, CNN
(CNN) — Robina Aminian, a 23-year-old studying at university in Tehran, had dreams of moving to Milan to pursue a career in fashion. Her Instagram account showed her proudly displaying various traditional Kurdish outfits.
On Thursday, she left the Tehran Shariati Technical University, where she was studying fashion design, to join a rally against the regime that was gathering in the capital, according to the Norway-based Iran Human Rights NGO (IHRNGO).
“She was a strong girl, a courageous girl, and she was not someone you could control and make decisions for. She fought for things she knew were right and fought hard,” her uncle Nezar Minouei told CNN.
“She was thirsty for freedom, thirsty for women’s rights, her rights,” her uncle said. “Overall, she was a girl who was alive, who lived.”
At the protest, Aminian was killed by gunfire, according to Hengaw, a Norway-based human rights organization.
Despite a days-long internet blackout, CNN is learning details about some of the Iranians killed as security forces launch a violent crackdown on anti-government protests sweeping the country.
At least 420 protesters have been killed over the past 15 days during anti-government demonstrations, including eight children, according to a detailed tally provided to CNN by Skylar Thompson, deputy director of Human Rights Activists in Iran (also known as HRA).
The latest death toll comes as several people inside Iran have told CNN that Iranian security forces are responding to dissent with violent force. Two people in Tehran, speaking on condition of anonymity for security reasons, said they saw security forces brandishing rifles on Friday and killing “many people.” Another eyewitness said she saw “bodies piled up on each other” in a hospital.
Wave of unrest
Aminian’s family detailed the harrowing scenes they were confronted with when they went to collect her body, according to Minouei, having driven from their home in Kermanshah in western Iran to Tehran.
Her father said Aminian’s body was being kept with the bodies of numerous young people aged between 18 and 22 years old. “Almost all of them had been shot in the head and neck,” Minouei said.
Authorities initially refused to return the daughter’s body, the uncle said. When the family were finally able to retrieve her remains, they were forced to bury her with their own hands without a ceremony, he added.
“As a family, we are heartbroken, but our head is held up high because our girl was martyred on the road to freedom, on the road to a better life that she fought for,” Aminian’s uncle said.
Despite the risks, defiant protesters have continued to turn out in large numbers across the country. The demonstrations have spread to more than 180 cities in all of Iran’s provinces, in a wave of nationwide unrest triggered by crippling economic conditions.
Iranian protesters risk death on multiple fronts, whether being shot down by security forces in the streets, or being charged with “moharebeh” translated as “waging war against God,” for vandalizing property, the punishment for which includes execution.
In Kermanshah in western Iran, Ebrahim Yousifi, a father of three, was shot in the head during protests on Thursday, his cousin told CNN. Yousifi, a 42-year-old hospital worker, leaves behind two sons and a daughter, according to the cousin, who wished to remain anonymous for security reasons.
Since Thursday, communication with the family has been “completely cut,” the cousin said, as experts warn the internet blackout in Iran, now in its fourth day, is unprecedented in its reach.
“Even our relatives in the Kurdistan Region of Iraq have been unable to reach anyone in Iran to confirm whether his body has been returned. The authorities’ response in Kurdish regions has been considerably more severe than in many other parts of the country,” his cousin said.
Mehdi Zatparvar, a former champion bodybuilder and coach, was killed on Friday during protests in the city of Rasht in Gilan province in northwestern Iran, Hengaw, a Norway-based human rights organization, reported.
The 39-year-old athlete was a two-time World Classic Bodybuilding champion, according to the International Fitness and Bodybuilding Federation. Zatparvar held a master’s degree in sports physiology, and was widely regarded as an experienced coach in Gilan, Hengaw said.
Zatparvar wrote in his most recent Instagram post, “We only want our rights, the voice that has been stifled for forty years must be shouted out,” according to the pro-reform outlet IranWire. His Instagram account has now been taken down.
CNN has been unable to independently verify these reports due to the ongoing communications blackout in Iran. CNN has sought comment from Iran’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs.
CNN’s Nechirvan Mando and Billy Stockwell contributed reporting.
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