Rubina was a budding fashion designer inspired by Iran's multi-ethnic population. Rebin was an up-and-coming teen footballer. Mehdi was a champion bodybuilder who also won weightlifting titles. Erfan had just turned 18.

All four, from various regions and backgrounds, were according to rights groups victims of the Iranian government's crackdown on protests, gunned down by security forces in their prime.

With the scale of the clampdown only now starting to emerge, rights groups say they have verified the killing of hundreds of protesters but fear the final toll could extend into the thousands.

Iran Human Rights (IHR) director Mamood Amiry Moghaddam told AFP that protesters killed were "mostly young men", although six women had also been identified.

Nine of the 648 people it has identified and confirmed to have been killed by security forces were minors, he added.

"The killings are intense all over the country where there have been protests," he added.

Dozens of members of the security........

© Al Monitor