Iran killed her teenage daughter - now she is facing up to the regime

Samira says she never used to be political.

"I worked in sales in Iran. I sold cosmetics," she tells BBC Panorama.

But that all changed the day her only child was shot dead in front of her by Iranian security forces. Sixteen-year-old Sevda was taking part in protests against Iran's repressive regime that engulfed the country earlier this year - before the US and Israel launched widespread air strikes which killed the country's supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei.

Samira's grief became fury as Iran's authorities then hindered, rather than helped, her search for her daughter's body, she says.

"I realised that finding Sevda wasn't the end, but just the beginning of all the harassment they put me through."

Samira made a dramatic escape from Iran on foot, navigating dangerous mountainous terrain.

She now lives abroad in hiding, describing herself as a "one-woman army fighting the regime". In a search for accountability and justice after her daughter's death, she is intent on naming the members of the security forces and officials she believes were responsible for firing fatal shots during the protests.

"They'll bring me to the brink of death before they kill me, but finding me won't be easy… Return to normal life? There is no going back," she says.

Kaynak: BBC News World RSS (Açık Basın / Haber Servisi)