Iranian State Coroner Says Mahsa Amini Did Not Die from Blows to Body

Iranian protesters display banners with pictures of Amini during a protest following the death of Iranian Mahsa Amini, in Istanbul, Türkiye, 07 October 2022. (EPA)
Iranian protesters display banners with pictures of Amini during a protest following the death of Iranian Mahsa Amini, in Istanbul, Türkiye, 07 October 2022. (EPA)
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Iranian State Coroner Says Mahsa Amini Did Not Die from Blows to Body

Iranian protesters display banners with pictures of Amini during a protest following the death of Iranian Mahsa Amini, in Istanbul, Türkiye, 07 October 2022. (EPA)
Iranian protesters display banners with pictures of Amini during a protest following the death of Iranian Mahsa Amini, in Istanbul, Türkiye, 07 October 2022. (EPA)

An official Iranian coroner's report denied Mahsa Amini had died due to blows to the head and limbs while in the custody of Iran's morality police and linked her death to pre-existing medical conditions, state media said on Friday.

The death of 22-year-old Amini while in police custody has ignited three weeks of nationwide unrest marking the biggest challenge to Iran's clerical leaders in years.

Her father has said she suffered bruises to her legs, and has held the police responsible for her death.

The coroner's report said her death was "not caused by any blow to the head and limbs". It did not say whether she had suffered any injuries.

Amini was arrested in Tehran on Sept. 13 for "inappropriate attire", and died three days later.

Referring to the day Amini collapsed in custody, the coroner said she had briefly regained consciousness but that "cardio-respiratory resuscitation was ineffective in the first critical minute, resulting in brain damage".

The report noted pre-existing medical conditions linked to a brain tumor for which she had undergone an operation when she was 8 years old. "She died due to multiple organ failure caused by cerebral hypoxia," it said.

The police, who have enforced strict dress codes since Iran's 1979 revolution, have denied she suffered any harm, previously saying she suffered a heart attack.

Her family deny she had any heart problems.

The government has ordered an investigation into her death.

During the nationwide protests demonstrators have damaged symbols of the republic and called for the downfall of Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei.

Rights groups say more than 150 people have been killed, hundreds have been injured and thousands arrested in a crackdown by security forces.

The government has described the protests as a plot by Iran's enemies including the United States, accusing armed dissidents - among others - of violence in which at least 20 members of the security forces have been reported killed.

State TV broadcast a mass funeral in Tehran on Friday for a member of the Basij - a volunteer militia deployed to quell unrest - saying he had been stabbed by protesters.

'We know our main enemies'

"We know our main enemies. You are novices and mercenaries of Israel, America and Zionism and cannot do anything in this country except torching garbage bins," a woman at the funeral said in comments to state TV, criticizing protesters.

Analysts do not believe the clerical establishment is close to being toppled despite growing frustration over strict social and political limitations imposed over the past four decades since the fall of the US-backed Shah.

The United States has called for accountability for Amini's death "after injuries sustained while in police custody". On Thursday, Washington imposed sanctions on seven Iranian officials over a shutdown of internet access and the crackdown.

Women have played a prominent role in the protests, waving and burning headscarves. High school girls have also taken part.

Meanwhile, the activist rights group HRANA published a statement it said it signed with 161 other rights and feminist groups calling on the United Nations to investigate alleged rights violations in the country.

Iranian media reported on Friday that authorities had denied reports that security forces killed a 16-year-old girl during the protests, citing a chief justice as saying she committed suicide by falling off a roof.

Social media reports and rights group Amnesty International have said Sarina Esmaeilzadeh was killed by security forces when she was struck with batons on the head during protests.

Authorities earlier this week gave a similar cause of death - falling off a roof - for 17-year-old Nika Shakarami, who activists say was killed in Tehran while demonstrating.



King Charles Calls for More Compassion in Christmas Speech

Britain's King Charles, along with members of the royal family, arrives to attend the Royal Family's Christmas Day service at St. Mary Magdalene's church, as the royals take residence at the Sandringham estate in eastern England, Britain, December 25, 2025. REUTERS/Hannah McKayg Rights
Britain's King Charles, along with members of the royal family, arrives to attend the Royal Family's Christmas Day service at St. Mary Magdalene's church, as the royals take residence at the Sandringham estate in eastern England, Britain, December 25, 2025. REUTERS/Hannah McKayg Rights
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King Charles Calls for More Compassion in Christmas Speech

Britain's King Charles, along with members of the royal family, arrives to attend the Royal Family's Christmas Day service at St. Mary Magdalene's church, as the royals take residence at the Sandringham estate in eastern England, Britain, December 25, 2025. REUTERS/Hannah McKayg Rights
Britain's King Charles, along with members of the royal family, arrives to attend the Royal Family's Christmas Day service at St. Mary Magdalene's church, as the royals take residence at the Sandringham estate in eastern England, Britain, December 25, 2025. REUTERS/Hannah McKayg Rights

Britain's King Charles III called for "compassion and reconciliation" at a time of "division" across the world in his annual Christmas Day message broadcast on Thursday.

The 77-year-old monarch said he found it "enormously encouraging" how people of different faiths had a "shared longing for peace".

In the year of the 80th anniversary of end of World War II, the king said the courage of servicemen and women and the way communities came together back then carried "a timeless message for us all".

"As we hear of division both at home and abroad, they are the values of which we must never lose sight," Charles said in a pre-recorded message from Westminster Abbey, broadcast on British television at 1500 GMT.

"With the great diversity of our communities, we can find the strength to ensure that right triumphs over wrong. It seems to me that we need to cherish the values of compassion and reconciliation the way our Lord lived and died."

In October, Charles became the first head of the Church of England to pray publicly with a pope since the schism with Rome 500 years ago, in a service led by Leo XIV at the Vatican.

A few days earlier Charles met survivors of a deadly attack on a synagogue and members of the Jewish community in the northern English city of Manchester.

This is the second time in succession that the king has made his festive address from outside a royal residence.

Last year he spoke from a former hospital chapel as he thanked medical staff for supporting the royal family in a year in which he announced his cancer diagnosis.


Israel Says Member of Elite Iran Unit Killed in Lebanon Strike

A Pakistani woman holds a national flag of Iran during a rally in solidarity with the Iranian people, in Karachi, Pakistan, 22 June 2025. EPA/SHAHZAIB AKBER
A Pakistani woman holds a national flag of Iran during a rally in solidarity with the Iranian people, in Karachi, Pakistan, 22 June 2025. EPA/SHAHZAIB AKBER
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Israel Says Member of Elite Iran Unit Killed in Lebanon Strike

A Pakistani woman holds a national flag of Iran during a rally in solidarity with the Iranian people, in Karachi, Pakistan, 22 June 2025. EPA/SHAHZAIB AKBER
A Pakistani woman holds a national flag of Iran during a rally in solidarity with the Iranian people, in Karachi, Pakistan, 22 June 2025. EPA/SHAHZAIB AKBER

The Israeli military said on Thursday that its forces killed a member of ​Iran's Quds Force in Lebanon who had been involved in planning attacks from Syria and Lebanon.
The military identified the man as Hussein Mahmoud Marshad al-Jawhari, calling him a key operative in ‌the force's ‌unit 840.

He was ‌assassinated ⁠in ​the ‌area or Ansariyeh, the military added in a statement, without giving any further details of his death, Reuters reported.

Al-Jawhari "operated under the Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) and was involved in terror activities, ⁠directed by Iran, against the State of ‌Israel and its security ‍forces," the statement said.

Israel ‍and Iran fought a brief ‍war in June and the Israeli military has been carrying out strikes in Lebanon on a near-daily basis, in ​what it says is an effort to stop Iranian-backed Lebanese ⁠group Hezbollah from rebuilding.

A US-backed ceasefire agreed in November 2024 ended more than a year of fighting between Israel and Hezbollah and required the disarmament of the powerful armed group, beginning in areas south of the river adjacent to Israel.

 

 


Coastguard Rescue 52 Migrants off Greece, Boy Missing

A dinghy transporting dozens of refugees and migrants is pulled towards Greece's Lesbos island after being rescued by a war ship during their sea crossing between Türkiye and Greece on February 29, 2020. Aris Messinis, AFP/File picture
A dinghy transporting dozens of refugees and migrants is pulled towards Greece's Lesbos island after being rescued by a war ship during their sea crossing between Türkiye and Greece on February 29, 2020. Aris Messinis, AFP/File picture
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Coastguard Rescue 52 Migrants off Greece, Boy Missing

A dinghy transporting dozens of refugees and migrants is pulled towards Greece's Lesbos island after being rescued by a war ship during their sea crossing between Türkiye and Greece on February 29, 2020. Aris Messinis, AFP/File picture
A dinghy transporting dozens of refugees and migrants is pulled towards Greece's Lesbos island after being rescued by a war ship during their sea crossing between Türkiye and Greece on February 29, 2020. Aris Messinis, AFP/File picture

Greek coastguard were searching Thursday for a missing child off the island of Farmakonisi after rescuing 52 migrants in two separate incidents in the Aegean Sea, local media reported.

They found 13 migrants who had arrived on the small, uninhabited island, but one boy was reported missing from the group, said the ANA news agency, AFP reported.

Another 39 migrants were found on board an inflatable boat off the southern island of Crete, according to the same source. They were taken to the village of Kaloi Limenes in Crete. No details about their nationality were provided.

Two coastguard vessels and an airforce helicopter were deployed for the operation off Farmakonisi, opposite the Turkish coast.

Many migrants try to reach the Greek islands from Türkiye or Libya as a way of entering the European Union. But both crossings are perilous.

Earlier this month, 17 people were found dead in a migrant boat drifting off Crete. Another 15 people were reported missing.

The UN refugee agency said more than 16,770 asylum seekers in the EU have arrived on Crete since the start of the year -- more than any other island in the Aegean Sea.