16-Year-Old Iranian Girl In Coma ‘Following Attack by Morality Police’

An Iranian teenage girl has been hospitalised after a reported attack in the Tehran Metro by the country’s so-called “morality police.” 

The rights group Hengaw Organisation for Human Rights said Armita Geravand, 16, lost consciousness after being assaulted at a metro station in the southeast part of Tehran on Sunday.

The incident has raised concerns in Iran as it resembles the events that sparked nationwide protests last year following the death of 22-year-old Mahsa Amini.

Iranian officials have denied any physical assault on the teenage student took place by security forces. In a statement released by the Tehran Metro authorities, they said that Geravand was taken to the hospital due to "low blood pressure."

Geravand is now being treated in Fajr Hospital after she fell into a coma. Security camera footage released by the authorities showed her being carried by other passengers before medics arrived. There is no footage showing the alleged assault.

Maryam Lotfi, a reporter from Shargh Daily newspaper, visited the hospital to report on the incident. But, she was briefly detained by Iranian security forces on Monday, only to be released later, as confirmed by the newspaper.

Human rights organisations monitoring Iran have reported heightened security measures around Fajr Hospital.

The Islamic Republic News Agency, Iran's state media, also put out an interview with Geravand's parents. They said that their daughter was hospitalised after collapsing due to "low blood pressure" and appealed to the public to stay away from "spreading rumours" while urging everyone to “pray” for her recovery.

Iran's hardline president, Ebrahim Raisi, had pledged to crack down on a growing trend of women challenging the country's mandatory head covering laws by wearing colourful fabric and showing some of their hair. A state-led campaign called “chastity and hijab” was accompanied by an increase in funding for morality police patrols nationwide. But after Amini's death and the ensuing nationwide demonstrations, Raisi's government backed down for a while before introducing new measures to penalise women who violated these laws.

Iran's government has persistently attributed the nationwide protests following Amini's death to foreign conspiracies, primarily led by arch-rivals, the United States and Israel. The crackdown on women defying mandatory head-covering laws continues within the country, and Iranian security services arrested more than 20,000 during the protests. Rights groups also estimate that more than 530 people were killed.