This 16-Year-Old Iranian Girl Has Been Allegedly Beaten Into Coma By “Morality” Police Over Her Hijab
Moments after Armita Geravand entered a subway train in Tehran, she is seen being carried off unconscious by other passengers.
A 16-year-old Iranian girl named Armita Geravand has been allegedly beaten into coma by “morality” police for violating the country’s mandatory hijab law.
CCTV footage on Sunday Oct. 1 showed a group of girls entering a subway train in Tehran, with some girls not appearing to be wearing headscarves.
After they enter the carriage, one of the girl is seen immediately backing off and reaching for the ground.
Moments later, Geravand is seen being carried off the train, unconscious, by other passengers.
No video footage showed what happened inside the train, but Human Rights group Hengaw said that Geravand was subjected to “a severe physical assault” by the so-called “morality” police.
Hengaw shared a photo of Geravand being treated at Tehran’s Fajr Hospital, saying that the hospital was under tight security.
The head of Tehran Metro told state media IRNA that CCTV footage showed no verbal of physical conflict between passengers or company employees.
However, CCTV footage of the incident released by the government had been edited, with more than three minutes missing, according to Amnesty International.
The government’s official media said that Geravand had fainted due to low blood pressure.
It also published a video of her parents saying Geravand was not attacked, according to the Guardian.
“I think my daughter’s blood pressure dropped, I am not too sure, I think they have said her pressure dropped,” her mother says in the video posted by IRNA, according to the BBC.
“We have checked all the videos and it has been proven for us that this incident was an accident. We request people to pray for our child’s recovery,” Geravand’s dad.
There are widespread concerns that the video was filmed under duress.
An activist told Reuters that Geravand’s family have been forbidden from sharing her photo or talking to human rights groups.
On Monday Oct. 2, a woman journalist was arrested for trying to visit the hospital and report on Gervand’s case.
Hengaw said that Gervand’s mother Shahin Ahmadi had been violently arrested by security forces near the hospital on Wednesday Oct. 4, adding that her whereabouts remain unknown.
Iranian officials denied the arrest to state news media.
The incident comes just over a year after the death of Mahsa Amini after she was arrested by “morality” police for allegedly breaking the hijab law, sparking widespread protests.
Rights groups are calling for the Iranian government to publish the CCTV footage of what happened inside the carriage.
