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Tehran/Iran: An Iranian teenage girl, who was reportedly assaulted weeks ago in a mysterious incident on Tehran’s Metro for not wearing a head scarf has succumbed to her severe injuries, according to a report by state-controlled media.
The 16-year-old student, Armita Garawand, a resident of Kermanshah in Kurdish-populated western Iran, had been admitted to hospital in Tehran after she fell unconscious during a subway journey.
Report claims that victim Geravand slipped into a coma following the alleged assault on October 1 and was declared ‘brain dead’ earlier this week. however it was unclear whether the police assaulted her inside the metro at that time, authorities claimed that the girl “fell unconscious” due to low blood pressure. The authorities said that there was no involvement of the security forces.
The injuries and death of the Iranian teenager now threaten to spark protests again across the country, a year after a similar incident happened with 22-year-old Mahsa Amini. The latter’s death sparked widespread and defiant protests against Iran’s strict hijab laws.
The mysterious incident
Geravand’s dispute with Tehran security forces on October 1 remains a mystery. While her friend told Iranian media that she hit her head on the station’s platform, footage from a broadcaster was blocked and her body was carried off.
Victim’s mother and father appeared in state media footage saying a blood pressure issue, a fall or perhaps both contributed to their daughter’s injury. However, a Norway-based human rights organisation and other activists abroad said that she was “assaulted” by Iran’s morality police.
The female morality police officers had approached Geravand in the metro and asked her to adjust her hijab, according to a member of the organisation. UN officials and rights groups have previously accused Iranian authorities of pressuring families of killed protesters to make statements supportive of the government narrative.
“Unluckily, the brain damage to the victim caused her to spend some time in a coma and she died a few minutes ago. According to the official theory of Armita Geravand’s doctors, after a sudden drop in blood pressure, she suffered a fall, a brain injury, followed by continuous convulsions, decreased cerebral oxygenation and a cerebral edema,” said the Iranian state media.
Gervand’s injury sparked renewed criticism of Iran’s treatment of women and its mandatory hijab law. The government passed a ‘Hijab Bill’ in September, imposing very harsh penalties, including 10 years in jail, on women who violate hijab rules.
It surfaces just over a year after the death of Mahsa Amini, also a young Iranian Kurd, after her arrest by the morality police for allegedly contravention Iran’s strict dress code for women in an incident that sparked mass protests across the Islamic republic.
