A teenage girl from Iran, who fell into a coma earlier this month after an alleged encounter with morality police for not wearing a hijab, is said to be “brain dead,” according to Iranian state media.
Armita Geravand, 16, was captured on surveillance cameras inside a metro station in Tehran on Oct. 1 without a head covering, which is mandatory for women under Iran’s strict Islamic dress code. The footage, released by a state-run news agency, shows her entering a subway car with two female friends. Moments later, Geravand was being dragged out of the train, unconscious.
Kurdish human rights organization Hengaw released a photo allegedly showing the 16-year-old in hospital, intubated and in a coma, days after the train incident. Hengaw claims Geravand suffered a “severe physical assault” at the hands of Iranian morality police for not wearing a head covering.
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“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-aligned news agency Tasnim reported Sunday.
State-run news agency IRNA reports that Geravand’s injuries came after she suffered a drop in blood pressure, causing her to faint and hit her head inside the train. Footage from inside the train, which could shed light on what made the 16-year-old collapse, has not been released by the government or state-run media.
The head of the Tehran Metro Operating Company, Masoud Dorosti, told IRNA that CCTV footage showed no sign of verbal or physical conflict between passengers or company employees.
IRNA posted an interview with Geravand’s parents in which her father says: “We have checked all the videos and it has been proven for us that this incident was an accident. We request people to pray for our child’s recovery.”
“I think my daughter’s blood pressure dropped, I am not too sure, I think they have said her pressure dropped,” her mother said. She added that there was no point in creating controversy.
Human rights organization Hengaw contends that the interview was recorded under “intense presence and pressure of security forces.”
Geravand’s hospitalization has drawn parallels to the story of 22-year-old Mahsa Amini, who died in hospital last year after being detained by the morality police for allegedly not wearing a hijab. Amini’s death kickstarted months of anti-government protests in Iran, as well as demonstrations around the globe.
On Sunday, the same day that Iran media reported Geravand is “brain dead,” reports emerged that a court in Iran had sentenced two journalists to prison after covering Amini’s death.
The two journalists are Niloufar Hamedi, who broke the news of Amini’s death for wearing her headscarf too loose, and Elaheh Mohammadi, who wrote about Amini’s funeral. They were sentenced to seven and six years in prison, respectively, the judiciary news website Mizan reported.
The journalists are accused of collaborating with the U.S. government and other charges.
Their sentencing can be appealed within 20 days.