Iran says 16-year-old girl, who collapsed on Tehran metro after altercation with morality police, is ‘brain dead’

A 16-year-old Iranian girl, who fell into a coma, after an alleged encounter with morality police earlier this month over violating the country’s hijab law, is said to be “brain dead”.

The teenager, Armita Geravand collapsed on October 1 after boarding a Tehran metro.

Though the authorities insist that the young girl fainted, activists accused morality police of assaulting Armita Geravand for not wearing hijab. She is being treated at Tehrran’s Fajr hospital under tight security.

The images of Armita Geravand’s hospitalisation were first made public by rights groups including Kurdish-Iranian Hengaw. In the pictures shared on social media, the minor was seen unconscious with a respiratory tube and bandage over her head, visibly on life support.

“Follow-ups on the latest health condition of Geravand indicate that her condition of being brain dead seems certain despite the efforts of the medical staff,” state broadcaster IRINN reported.

There have been concerns by rights advocates that Armita Geravand might face the same fate as Mahsa Amini, whose death in the custody of morality police last year sparked months of nationwide anti-government protests that posed one of the boldest challenges to Iran’s clerical rulers.

Iran has denied that Armita Geravand was hurt after a confrontation on October 1 with officers enforcing the mandatory Islamic dress code in the Tehran metro.

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Hengaw, however, alleged that Armita Geravand was “physically attacked by authorities… for what they perceived as non-compliance with the compulsory ‘hijab’”.

“As a result, she sustained severe injuries,” it added.

The Iranian authorities also released CCTV footage in which Armita Geravand, with her hair uncovered, was seen boarding a train at Tehran’s Shohada station with two other girls. Moments later, one of the girls backs out of the train and bends down.

She and many other passengers are then seen carrying an unconscious Armita by her arms and legs before laying her down on the platform.

The Iranian authorities, however, did not release any footage from inside the train or the entrance to the station.

Tehran metro’s managing director also denied that there was “any verbal or physical conflict” between Armita and “passengers or metro executives”.

In Iran, restrictions have been imposed on women’s dress code since a popular revolution deposed the secular and Western-backed Shah in 1979. It is mandatory, by law, for women in the country to cover their hair and wear long, loose-fitting clothes.

With inputs from agencies