Another case similar to that of Mahsa Amini may have occurred in Iran on October 1st: Armita Geravand, 16, a young protester from Tehran, is now in a coma.
The young protester was seen entering an underground train in Tehran with some friends. Her short black hair was not covered by a hijab. Footage from the station shows the girl boarding the train followed by her friends and then being carried out, unconscious, by the other girls. She was then laid down on the platform as the train left, and bystanders came to help the group.
First responders were soon called and then the girl was transferred to Fajr Air Force hospital, where she remains in a coma. Footage from inside the train has not been released yet, but Iranian activists accuse the morality police of beating the girl who broke the hijab law.
Iranian media who interviewed people close to the scene, reported that Armita argued with officers who were enforcing hijab rules in the train and who then pushed her. The girl allegedly fell onto a metal object on the train and fell unconscious, reporting a cerebral haemorrhage.
The Iranian government denied all allegations of the police attacking the girl, and instead stated that she fainted due to a drop in blood sugar after skipping breakfast.
Masoud Dorosti, head of the Tehran Metro Operating Company, told the Iranian news media that cameras do not show any signs of confrontation, either verbal or physical, between the young people and the police.
Her parents, interviewed by IRNA, Iranian news agency, confirmed, in shock, the government’s side, saying: “My daughter, I think her blood pressure, I don’t know what, I think they say that her blood pressure dropped, and then she fell down, and her head hit the edge of the metro,” said her mother, Shahin Ahmadi. Her father, Ahmad Geravand, said Armita was a healthy girl and did not have any medical conditions nor used any medication.
As reported by the New York Times, Armita lives in a working-class neighbourhood in West Tehran, and is an art student at a vocational art and design high school.
On October 9, the Iranian journalist Masih Alinejad posted a video on Instagram where she is seen confronting a female morality police officer on the train. In the video she can be heard shouting: “You killed Armita Geravand yesterday, wait for the news of her death.”
To answer the accusations, the officer shouted back: “That’s right, we killed her. We were right, she deserved it.”
Armita is still alive, but she is in a coma in Fajr Air Force hospital, guarded by security guards, which makes it difficult for her family to visit her and for journalists to shed light on what happened.
The events that happened on October 1st are still under investigation, while Armita’s conditions have “somewhat worsened” over the past few days, as stated by the Iranian news agency ‘Borna’.
The event in the underground train occurred a year after the death of Mahsa Amini, and protests had already reignited for the anniversary of the young Kurdish girl's death. Businesses closed to join the protest against the regime, and people demonstrated in many world capitals.
The Iranian government has also recently passed a law to increase punishments for women who do not wear the headscarf in public. This law also applies to businesses that serve these women and activists who protest against the regime. Punishments include up to 10 years in prison for organised offences.
Cover picture: Zamaneh Media
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