Helena Gholami: A Little 12 Year Old Karate Champion

Helena was only 12 years old; she was a karate champion. Helena and her family were targeted by drone missiles on the Qom–Tehran highway, and Helena was killed.
A reporter visiting Helena’s home wrote that “in a simple house, the mother hugged her daughter’s framed photo, and a heavy silence surrounded her. Deep sadness was visible on her face, but her eyes shone with faith and resistance. She spoke softly to her daughter’s photo: ‘My dear Helena, I know you are in a better place…’”

Helena Gholami, a young girl from Khorramabad and a talented Kyokushin karate athlete, was buried. She had international honors in the field of martial arts. After her death, the Iranian Karate Federation expressed its condolences upon hearing the news of her passing.

Now, Helena is no longer with her friends at the gym. If that drone hadn’t struck her, she would be talking to her friends these days about her passion for the more difficult challenges of taekwondo. But an Israeli drone hit her family’s car—and now she is no longer with her friends, forever asleep in the cold earth, in a corner of Iran.