Tehran – A 16-year-old girl died in hospital in Iran, who, according to non-governmental organizations, was stopped by the morality police in the Tehran subway at the beginning of the month because she was not wearing a hijab. This is reported by press agencies with reference to the Iranian state agency IRNA. Armíta Gerávandová was in a coma for several weeks. According to the AP agency, human rights activists claim that the girl could have been attacked by the morality police, who enforce the wearing of a headscarf in public.
„Unfortunately, the victim’s brain damage caused her to spend some time in a coma and she died a few minutes ago,“ IRNA reported. She added that, according to doctors, Gerávandova was in a coma after falling due to a sudden drop in blood pressure and injuring her head. IRNA did not provide further details of what happened to the girl in early October.
Earlier footage published by the IRNA agency only showed Gerávandová, accompanied by two female friends, boarding a subway train on October 1 without wearing the hijab, a headscarf with which a Muslim woman is supposed to cover her hair and cleavage, and which women in Iran have had to wear since the Islamic Revolution. in 1979 to wear in public. Later, subway footage showed passengers dragging the lifeless body onto the platform.
The girl’s parents said on state television that their daughter fell and hit her head on the subway, apparently due to low blood pressure. However, human rights activists relate the incident to the intervention of members of the moral police, who control the wearing of the hijab.
According to AFP, Gerávandová came from a region where Kurds live. The case recalls the death of a young Kurdish woman, Mahsa Aminíová, who died last September in custody after being arrested by the morality police allegedly for wearing a hijab that was too loose. Even this incident is accompanied by confusion. According to the police, she suffered a heart attack, but according to her family and other sources, she died as a result of police brutality. Her death sparked widespread protests in Iran and widespread criticism from abroad.