Iran slams global criticism over hospitalized teenage girl

In response to claims from rights organisations that a young girl was hospitalised in severe condition and in a coma after a dispute with authorities in the Tehran metro because she was not wearing the hijab, Iran struck back at Western criticism of its treatment of women on Thursday. Rights organisations worry that 16-year-old Armita Geravand may suffer the same fate as Mahsa Amini, a 22-year-old woman whose death in a coma while in the care of morality police last year provoked months of widespread protest. Mahsa Amini’s death occurred while she was in their custody. Tehran refutes claims made by rights advocates that Geravand was hurt on Sunday during an altercation with law enforcement who were enforcing the nation’s Islamic dress code, which mandates that women cover their heads. Nasser Kanaani, a spokesman for the foreign ministry, criticised the United States, Britain, and Germany for statements they made last week regarding Geravand’s case and women’s rights in Iran. “Instead of interventionist and biased remarks and expressing insincere concern over Iranian women and girls, you’d better be concerned about U.S., German and UK healthcare personnel, patients and tackle their situation,” he wrote on the X social media platform. Abram Paley, the deputy special envoy for Iran for the United States, said on X on Wednesday that Washington was closely monitoring updates on Geravand’s condition. “Shocked and concerned about reports that Iran’s so-called morality police have assaulted 16-year-old Armita Geravand,” Paley said. “We continue to stand with the brave people of Iran and work with the world to hold the regime accountable for its abuses.” Germany’s Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock had said on X: “Once again a young woman in #Iran is fighting for her life. Just because she showed her hair in the subway.” Geravand allegedly got into a fight with police on the Tehran subway for wearing a headscarf, according to two well-known rights activists who spoke to Reuters on Wednesday. They claimed that Geravand later went into a coma. Geravand was seen in CCTV footage posted on state news agency IRNA walking towards the train from the metro platform with two female acquaintances while not wearing a hijab. One of the girls is seen backing up and grabbing for the ground as soon as she enters the cabin, and then passengers remove another girl out of the cabin while she is still unconscious. The Tehran Metro Operating Company informed IRNA that there was no evidence of verbal or physical altercation between customers and business personnel in the CCTV footage. Geravand’s parents said in a video released on IRNA that their daughter had fallen, lost her balance, and hit her head inside the metro car. Rights organisations have pushed authorities to release video taken inside the cabin on social media, arguing that her parents’ confession was forced. Last month, U.N.-appointed rights officials voiced their worry over a new hijab rule in Iran that introduces severe penalties for women who choose not to wear the head covering in public. The most significant turmoil in Iran in years began after Amini’s death in September 2022, which led to weeks of widespread anti-government rallies and a fatal crackdown by police. Since the secular and Western-backed Shah was overthrown in a popular revolution in 1979, Iran’s theocratic regime has enforced limitations on women’s attire. (With agency inputs)