سارینا اسماعیل‌زاده

Who she was

سارینا اسماعیل‌زاده (Sârinâ Esmâ’il-zâdeh), born 2006 in Karaj, Alborz province, was a 16-year-old high school student. She ran a small YouTube channel where she vlogged about teen life: schoolwork, friendships, the Persian phrase she returned to most was بچه‌ها حق دارن شاد باشن (bachche-hâ haq dâran shâd bâshan, “kids have a right to be happy”). After her death the line was reproduced on murals across the diaspora.

What happened

On 22 September 2022, six days after Mahsa Amini’s death, Sarina joined protests in Mehrshahr, Karaj. According to Amnesty International’s investigation, she was beaten by security forces with batons. She died on 23 September 2022 from severe head trauma. Iranian authorities, through the prosecutor of Alborz province on 6 October 2022, claimed she had committed suicide by jumping from the roof of her home. The state produced no autopsy detail. Amnesty International, in an October 2022 statement, said its investigation found the head injuries consistent with sustained baton blows and inconsistent with a single fall, and concluded that Sarina had been killed by security forces during the protest. Her family was reportedly pressured to corroborate the state’s suicide narrative; her mother gave a televised statement repeating the official version that human-rights observers framed as forced confession.

What followed

The UN Independent International Fact-Finding Mission on Iran (March 2024 report) included Sarina among the documented children killed by security forces during the 2022 protests and concluded that the killing of children at protest sites was not aberrant but systematic. The Mission named the state’s reflexive resort to suicide-and-accident framing for child deaths as a pattern. No member of the security forces involved has been identified or prosecuted by the Iranian state.

How she’s remembered

Sarina’s YouTube vlog clips have been re-uploaded by activists and now play in continuous loops at diaspora protests. Her phrase بچه‌ها حق دارن شاد باشن (“kids have a right to be happy”) is one of the most-quoted lines of the 2022 movement. She is paired in diaspora memorials with Nika Shakarami: “two sixteen-year-olds, three days apart, both branded suicides by the same prosecutor’s office.” Her birthday and date of death are observed on the diaspora memorial calendar.

Cross-links

See Mahsa Amini, Nika Shakarami, Aida Rostami, zan-zendegi-âzâdi, sepâh (IRGC), basij.

Sources

• Amnesty International (Oct 2022): “Iran: Investigation reveals 16-year-old protester died after being severely beaten by security forces”
• UN Independent International Fact-Finding Mission on Iran, A/HRC/55/67 (8 March 2024)
• BBC Persian (Sep-Oct 2022): on Sarina Esmailzadeh case
• Iran Human Rights / Hengaw: child-deaths database for 2022 protests
• The Guardian (Oct 2022): coverage of Karaj protest deaths

References

• Dehkhoda Lexicon
• Amnesty International (Oct 2022)
• UN Fact-Finding Mission on Iran
• Iran Human Rights database
• Hengaw protest-deaths register