It was impossible to see what kind of headdress the girl was wearing in the video, but human rights activists believe she was beaten because of strict hijab laws.
In the metro of Tehran, the “moral police” beat the 16-year-old Armita Garavand, after the beating the girl fell into a coma. This was reported by the Kurdish human rights organization Hengaw.
The incident took place on October 1. The video, distributed online, does not show what was happening inside the carriage, but the cameras recorded how her friends were trying to hold the unconscious girl.
It was impossible to see what kind of headdress the girl was wearing in the recording, but human rights activists believe she was beaten because of strict hijab laws.
Meanwhile, state media and Tehran Metro officials said Armita Garavand lost consciousness due to low blood pressure and crashed into a train carriage. State media began denying that the girl had been physically attacked after the incident became widely publicized.
Officials also said there was no physical fight and pointed to a cropped version of the video, while pro-government Iranian media published an interview with Armita’s parents in which they denied any attack.
“We have checked all the videos and are convinced that the incident was an accident. We ask people to pray for our child’s recovery,” said Armita’s father.
But Hengaw police said the parents’ interview was recorded under duress and in the presence of “security forces”. Human rights activists are confident that the security authorities have established strict control over the victim’s family to hide the truth.
It was almost impossible to visit the victim, as the girl and all areas of the hospital were guarded by security forces. The journalist, who went to the medical center, was detained, but released after a few hours.
“According to reliable information from Hengaw, state security agents confiscated the mobile phones of all Armita’s family members on suspicion of passing on any recorded images after the publication of Armita’s photos in a special ward of Tehran’s Fajra Hospital,” the organization said in a report.
Human rights activists fear a repeat of the tragedy of Mahsa Amini, who died in hospital after being brutally beaten by security forces for an “improperly tied hijab”.
Hengaw requested that 16-year-old Armita be examined by an independent medical team from Doctors Without Borders and the International Committee of the Red Cross office in Tehran, in the presence of a representative of the UN Committee.
Let’s recall that the Commission of the Iranian Parliament has previously approved tougher penalties for violating the law on forced wearing of the hijab.
The tightening of the law was the country’s leadership’s response to protests in 2022, which emerged against the backdrop of the killing of 22-year-old Mahsa Amini by Iranian moral police. The woman was detained for violating the rules of wearing a hijab. The authorities violently suppressed the protests and carried out several executions.
Source: korrespondent
I am David Wyatt, a professional writer and journalist for Buna Times. I specialize in the world section of news coverage, where I bring to light stories and issues that affect us globally. As a graduate of Journalism, I have always had the passion to spread knowledge through writing.