Who was Armita Geravand, Iranian teen who died after ‘assault’ by morality police?

A teenage girl who was injured after being allegedly assaulted by Iran’s morality police over the violation of the country’s hijab law has died, as per Iranian state media. Armita Geravand, 16, was in a coma for weeks before being reported “brain dead” last Sunday (22 October). “Unfortunately, the brain damage led to the victim spending some time in a coma and they died a few minutes ago,” CNN cited the statement from Iran’s state agency IRNA as saying. Who was Armita Geravand? Armita Geravand lived in western Tehran. As per a report in New York Times (NYT), she studied art at a vocational art and design high school. According to her classmates, the teenager was enthusiastic about painting and undertook taekwondo training semiprofessionally, the report added. She originally hailed from Kermanshah, a city in Kurdish-dominated western Iran, The Telegraph reported citing the Kurdish-focused Hengaw Organisation for Human Rights. What happened to the Iranian teen? The 16-year-old was hospitalised with head injuries after her alleged encounter with officers of morality police on 1 October at Tehran’s Shohada metro station. As per NYT, Geravand was on her way to school and had entered a subway car with her short black hair “uncovered”. Some minutes later, her unconscious body was dragged out of the train carriage. According to Farzad Seifikaran, a journalist with Radio Zamaneh, people familiar with the episode said that morality police officers argued with Amrita and her two friends – who were also not wearing the hijab – and one of them “pushed” the 16-year-old teen, reported NYT. IranWire reported that Geravand was admitted to a hospital with “head trauma.” [caption id=“attachment_13311392” align=“alignnone” width=“640”] The surveillance video aired by Iranian state television, showed women pull 16-year-old Armita Geravand from a train car on the Tehran Metro, on 1 October. AP File Photo[/caption] Awyer Shekhi, a staffer of the Norway-based Hengaw Organization for Human Rights, told CNN earlier that female morality police officers had asked Geravand to “adjust” her hijab. “This request resulted in an altercation with the morality police officers physically assaulting Geravand. She was pushed, leading to her collapse”. The human rights organisation also shared pictures of what appeared to be Geravand lying in a bed at Fajr Air Force Hospital in Tehran, with her head and neck covered in bandages. A feeding tube was also seen attached to her mouth. The incident led to uproar on social media, with celebrities and activists widely condemning the incident. Last weekend, Iran’s state-aligned Tasnim news agency reported that the teen student is “brain dead”. “Follow-ups on the latest health condition of Armita Geravand indicate that her condition of being brain dead seems certain despite the efforts of the medical staff,” CNN quoted Tasnim’s report as saying. The report of her death surfaced today on Iranian media. “Armita Garawand, a student in Tehran, died an hour ago after intensive medical treatment and 28 days of hospitalisation in intensive care,” the Borna news agency affiliated with the youth ministry reported, as per AFP. Confirming the news of her death, Iran’s state news agency IRNA said: “According to the official theory of Armita Geravand’s doctors, after a sudden drop in blood pressure, she suffered a fall, a brain injury, followed by continuous convulsions, decreased cerebral oxygenation and a cerebral edema.”

Armita Garavand: Another Victim of Mandatory Hijab and Government Murder in Iran#ArmitaGaravand https://t.co/L0H0mLHpbL

— Hengaw Organization for Human Rights (@Hengaw_English) October 28, 2023

Iran denies teen girl’s assault Iranian authorities have denied reports of assault, claiming Geravand had “fainted” due to a drop in blood pressure. Her parents echoed the government’s version. “My daughter, I think her blood pressure, I don’t know what, I think, they say that her blood pressure dropped then she fell down and her head hit the edge of the metro,” Shahin Ahmadi, the mother of the 16-year-old student, said in a video released by IRNA earlier, reported NYT. It is not clear if her parents were coerced for the interview. Many allege that Iranian authorities have released “forced” interviews in the past with family members of victims killed or hurt by security forces. Masoud Dorosti, head of the Tehran Metro Operating Company, said there was not “any verbal or physical conflict” between the teen and “passengers or metro executives”. The tragic incident comes just over a year after the death of Mahsa Amini, a 22-year-old Kurdish woman, who died after being arrested by the morality police for allegedly violating Iran’s stringent dress code for women. Her death had sparked widespread demonstrations across the country, mostly led by women. [caption id=“attachment_13311412” align=“alignnone” width=“640”] Women can be seen without wearing the mandatory hijab in downtown Tehran in September 2023. AP File Photo[/caption] It remains to be seen if Geravand’s death will reignite popular anger, especially among women, against Iran’s mandatory hijab rules and its government, making the chants of “Women, Life, Freedom” reverberate across the world again. With inputs from agencies