A 16-year-old Iranian girl was left brain dead after an alleged attack by morality officers on public transit for not wearing a hijab, Daily Mail reports.
An unconscious Armita Geravand was seen via CCTV footage in a train station being dragged out of one of the train cabs earlier in October.
Norway-based Kurdish human rights group Hengaw said Armita was assaulted by a female officer while riding the train for not wearing a hijab, which is required under Iran's strict morality laws which require women to cover their hari in public.
Iranian authorities claim that Geravand suffered a drop in blood pressure, causing her to fall and hit her head inside the cabin. Geravand's parents have gone along with this claim as well.
“I think my daughter's blood pressure dropped, I am not too sure, I think they have said her pressure dropped,” her mother said. But she added that there was no point in creating controversy.
Geravand has been receiving treatment at a local hospital where relatives have reported that "there is a heavy presence of plain clothes at the hospital,” referring to police officers.
Activists who spoke to Reuters on the condition of anonymity reported that Iranian officials have applied pressure to support the narrative of her hitting her head by accident. They have also said security forces forbade Armita’s parents from speaking with human rights groups or from posting pictures of her in the hospital.
In addition, an Iranian journalist was arrested and held by authorities for hours after attempting to investigate the incident at the hospital.
The head of the Tehran Metro Operating Company, Masoud Dorosti, said he could not see any signs of a physical altercation from the brief CCTV footage.
“There were no verbal or physical altercations between the student and passengers or metro personnel. Rumours about a confrontation between metro personnel and the student are baseless and are contradicted by metro security footage,” he said.
Leaders from around the world, however, have made statements condemning Iran for the alleged assault.
Germany's Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock said on X: “Once again a young woman in #Iran is fighting for her life. Just because she showed her hair in the subway. It is unbearable. The parents of #ArmitaGarawand do not belong in front of cameras, but have the right to be at their daughter's bedside.”
This incident shows eerily similar details to the death of Mahsa Amini, whose name was shared across the globe after she was also allegedly attacked for not dressing properly or wearing a hijab during a visit to the Iranian capital with her family.
She was detained by authorities before leaving the police station in an ambulance in a comatose state and then died in a hospital. Iranian officials have stated she suffered a heart attack and brain seizure leading to multiple organ failure.
