A 16-year-old Iranian girl who was in critical condition in hospital after she clashed with morality police in Tehran’s subway over her loose hijab is brain dead. Referring to the Iranian state media, Reuters reported this today.
The case commemorates the death of a young Kurdish woman, Mahsa Aminíová, who died in custody a year ago after being arrested for violating the strict dress code for women in public. Her death sparked widespread protests in the country. Last week, the European Parliament awarded her the Sakharov Prize for freedom of thought.
In the footage published by the IRNA agency, you can see how a young girl, Armíta Gerávandová, accompanied by two friends, boarded a subway train without wearing a hijab at the beginning of October, and later passengers pulled her lifeless body onto the platform. The parents in the video say they were told their daughter lost her balance and hit her head due to low blood pressure.
The exiled Iranian human rights organization Hengaw, based in Norway, then released a picture showing Gerávand lying unconscious in a hospital. According to Iranian media, it is clear that the girl “despite medical efforts” is in a state of brain death.
Iranian authorities deny accusations by human rights groups that the girl was injured after clashing with police officers who were enforcing strict dress codes for women in public in the Tehran subway. According to Reuters, the news about Gerávand could revive the nationwide protests sparked by Aminí’s death last year.
How women live in Iran
The protests in Iran have weakened significantly compared to last year. Kathy no longer believes in the continuation of the revolutionary movement: “Protests are probably not the right way anymore, we have already lost too many lives.” We have no power against them and no country supports us. Maybe it needs a gradual change of governance, that seems more logical to me than protests,” he thinks. According to her, the protests changed only two things: everything became radically more expensive and women and girls now dare to go without the hijab.
After her death, the 22-year-old Aminí became a symbol of resistance against the Iranian regime. Her death sparked widespread protests across the country, first for women’s rights and then against the entire leadership of the Middle Eastern theocratic country.
According to the media, the police arrested Aminí because she was wearing a hijab – a headscarf in Muslim society that covers the hair, neck and breasts – that women in Iran have been required to wear in public since the 1979 Islamic revolution. According to the police, the woman suffered a heart attack while in custody, but according to critics and her family, she died as a result of police brutality.
