Rubina Aminian was a young Iranian student whose name quickly became known after she was shot and killed in Tehran during the latest wave of anti-government protests.
Who was Rubina Aminian?
She was just 22 or 23, Kurdish, born in Marivan, right in Iran’s Kurdistan Province. Her family lived in Kermanshah, over in the west.
Rubina came to Tehran to study textile and fashion design at the Shariati Technical and Vocational College for Girls, a women-only school that offers everything from engineering to art and architecture.
The college sits in the Khani Abad-e Now neighbourhood, not far from Shahid Tondguyan Highway and Bahman Square.
People who knew Rubina always mention her love for fashion. She lived for it. Friends and family describe her as joyful and full of energy, someone whose dreams were crushed by the government’s brutal crackdown.
If you looked at her social media, you’d see it too: videos of her trying on jewellery, putting on lipstick, blowing kisses at the camera. She was just enjoying life, being herself.
Her uncle, Nezar Minouei, told CNN that Rubina was strong and brave. No one could push her around or make decisions for her. She fought hard when she believed in something, especially when it came to freedom and women’s rights.
Rubina Aminian was shot in the head
On Thursday evening, January 8, 2026, Rubina left her college and joined the protests in Tehran. That’s when she was shot human rights groups say someone fired at her from close range, hitting the back of her head. Iran Human Rights got this information from people close to her family, who had spoken to eyewitnesses.
They say Rubina was shot from behind, point-blank.
She wasn’t the only young victim. Reports say most of those killed in the protests were between 18 and 22, often shot in the head or neck by government forces.
The Hana Human Rights Organisation confirmed Rubina’s death during the Tehran protests and says they’re investigating, calling their information “credible.”
Rubina is one of the few protest victims whose name and story have actually come out. Human rights groups estimate that more than 500 people have lost their lives in these protests, including hundreds of protesters, but also dozens of security personnel.
The US-based Human Rights Activists News Agency (HRANA) says at least 538 people have been killed: 490 protesters and 48 security forces. More than 10,600 people have been arrested.
How did Rubina Aminian’s family recover her body?
Upon hearing about the death of Rubina, her family went to Tehran and Kermanshah to find her body. What they were exposed to in the process has cast grave concerns on the magnitude of violence employed to deal with protesters.
Sources close to the family say they were taken to a nearby site to the college of Rubina and were faced with the corpses of dozens, and in some reports, hundreds of youngsters that had been murdered in the protests.
Her family members were not permitted to verify and fetch Rubina until several attempts had been made. They, in turn, hastened back to Kermanshah, trying to avoid additional interference from security forces.
When Rubina’s family brought her body back to Kermanshah, they didn’t come home to silence or comfort; they found intelligence and security agents everywhere, locking down their street. Human rights groups say the family couldn’t even hold a proper funeral or let people come mourn with them.
One person close to the family said it wasn’t easy getting Rubina’s body back. They fought for it, managed to return, and then saw their house surrounded. The security forces wouldn’t let them bury her where she belonged.
So, under all that pressure, the family had no choice. Instead of a real cemetery, they buried Rubina by the roadside between Kermanshah and Kamyaran. The grave was just a shallow patch of earth on an empty stretch of road.
They tried to organise some kind of memorial. They went to mosques in Marivan, hoping for a place to mourn, but were turned away. No ceremonies allowed, the officials said.
The Hana Human Rights Organisation called it out: the family, they said, was forced, crushed by security pressure to bury their daughter with no funeral, no crowd, no chance to grieve together.
