A 16-year-old Iranian girl, who was ‘attacked by morality officers on a train in Tehran for not wearing a hijab’, has died after being in a coma for weeks.
Armita Geravand fell into a coma earlier this month after suffering “serious injuries” following a “physical attack” by female morality police officers in Tehran’s metro, a rights group said.
Hengaw, a Norway-based Kurdish human rights NGO, claimed that Mc Geravand was attacked by hijab officers at Shohada Station, a stop on the city’s metro, because he was not wearing a hijab, which all women in Iran must wear under strict moral laws wear. .
It is unclear what happened in the few seconds after Mc Geravand boarded the train on October 1.
Her death comes after the first anniversary of Mahsa Amini’s death and the nationwide protests it sparked.
Armita Geravand, 16, who was allegedly attacked by state police for not wearing a mandatory hijab, has died after declaring brain death and left in a coma for weeks
Armita fell into a coma earlier this month after suffering ‘serious injuries’ following an alleged ‘physical attack’ by female morality police officers in Tehran’s metro
As Ms Geravand’s friend told Iranian state television that she had hit her head on the station platform, the silent images broadcast by the broadcaster from outside the car are blocked by a bystander.
Just seconds later, her limp body is taken away.
Ms Geravand’s mother and father appeared in state media footage saying a blood pressure problem, a fall or perhaps both contributed to their daughter’s injury.
Unverified CCTV footage, shared with local media earlier this month, appears to show the teenager walking to the train with two of her friends without a hijab.
Upon entering the cabin, one of the girls is immediately seen backing away and reaching for the ground before another girl is dragged unconscious from the cabin by passengers.
Several passengers can be seen gathering to watch the girl being taken away.
Hengaw later shared a photo of a young girl lying in a hospital bed with various medical equipment strapped to her, claiming it was an image of Armita.
A source told an Iranian news agency that she was “taken to hospital in a comatose state” and required resuscitation because she had either stopped breathing or her heart had stopped.
She was taken off the train by her friends and some passengers
After she was taken off the train, several more passengers began to crowd around her
Her case has been compared to that of Mahsa Amini, the 22-year-old woman whose death while in the custody of vice police sparked nationwide protests last year.
Authorities denied that this was a case of state abuse against yet another young woman.
Tehran Metro Operating Company head Masoud Dorosti said the CCTV footage showed no sign of verbal or physical conflict between passengers or company employees.
Activists have demanded an independent investigation by the United Nations fact-finding mission to Iran, citing the theocracy’s pressure on victims’ families and state television’s history of broadcasting hundreds of forced confessions.
The IRNA, Iran’s state news agency, did not address any controversy surrounding Ms Geravand’s injury in their report.
“Unfortunately, the victim’s brain damage caused her to remain in a coma for some time and she passed away a few minutes ago,” the IRNA reported.
‘According to the official theory of Armita Geravand’s doctors, after a sudden drop in blood pressure, she suffered a fall, brain injury, followed by persistent convulsions, reduced cerebral oxygenation and cerebral edema.’
The teenager was treated under close guard at Fajr Hospital in Tehran.
Ms Geravand’s injury also came as Iran has put its morality police – who activists implicate in Ms Amini’s death – back on the streets and as lawmakers push to impose even harsher penalties on those who flout required head coverings.
Ms Amini, 22, died in a hospital on September 16 last year after Iranian moral police arrested her on charges of improperly wearing the hijab.
150 people have been killed and hundreds injured in the regime’s crackdown on protests
Protests have swept Iran since Amini’s death in police custody
Suspicions that she was beaten during her arrest led to mass protests that posed the biggest challenge to Iran’s theocratic government since the revolution.
Since these large-scale protests subsided, many women in Tehran could be seen without a headscarf in violation of the law.
Ms Amini was visiting the Iranian capital with her family when she was stopped by the special police unit that enforces strict dress rules for women, including the mandatory headscarf.
Her brother Kiaresh said at the time that while he waited outside the police station for her release, an ambulance arrived and took her to hospital.
He was told she was in a comatose state after suffering a heart attack and a brain attack.
Ms Amini later died of her injuries, but Iran denied involvement in her death, claiming she died of multiple organ failure caused by a lack of oxygen to the brain.
Nearly 80 people died last September during 11 nights of violent unrest across the country as Iranian citizens called for the death of the current leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, after news of her death spread.