Yalda Mohammad Khani
یلدا محمدخانی
2009–2026
- Born
- 12 August 2009
- Taken
- 9 January 2026
- Age
- only 16 years old
- From
- Fardis, Alborz
Kept on this phone only. Nothing is sent.
Their life
Yalda was born in Tehran in August 2009 and grew up in Fardis, near Karaj, with her parents and her younger sister. She was in the eleventh grade, an outstanding student of animation.
The people close to her describe her as introverted and kind, a dreamer and a feminist, loyal to her friends and deeply attached to her family. She loved nature and animals.
When the protests began, she could not see why other young people should take the risk for her while she stayed home, and she told her family so before she went out.
Other kids are going out there for us. Why shouldn't I go?
How the regime took them
At about 8:50 p.m. on Friday 9 January 2026, near Canal Boulevard in Fardis, a shotgun pellet hit Yalda in the leg; moments later seven more were fired into her back from close range. She died in the street, in her parents' arms.
The family were made to wait four days and to identify her from a photograph before her body was handed to her father on 13 January. Her death certificate gives the cause as being "struck by a thrown, projectile or falling object". She is buried at Behesht-e Ali cemetery in Eshtehard.
