A teenage Iranian girl allegedly assaulted by the country's morality police for not wearing a Hijab has been declared brain dead.
According to activists, Armita Geravand, 16, was hospitalized with head injuries after the alleged assault at a Tehran metro station earlier this month, just weeks after Iran passed draconian legislation imposing much harsher penalties on women who violate the country's strict hijab rules.
"Follow-ups on Armita Geravand's latest health condition indicate that her condition of being brain dead seems certain despite the efforts of the medical staff," the state-aligned Tasnim news agency said Sunday, without citing a source.
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Graveland was "assaulted" by morality police and went into a coma, according to the Norway-based Hengaw Organisation for Human Rights, which focuses on Kurdish rights. IranWire said Geravand had been admitted to the hospital with "head trauma."
According to Hengaw staffer Awyer Shekhi, female morality police officials approached Geravand near the Shohada metro station and requested her to straighten her headscarf.
"This request resulted in a physical altercation between morality police officers and Geravand." "She was pushed, which caused her to collapse," Shekhi explained.
Iranian authorities disputed the charges, claiming Geravand was hospitalized due to a low blood pressure injury.
In interviews with official media, Geravand's friends and relatives have echoed such denials, but it is unclear if they were pushed into doing so. Previously, UN officials and rights groups accused Iranian authorities of forcing the dead demonstrators' families to make comments supporting the government narrative.
Amini, a 22-year-old Kurdish-Iranian lady, died in September last year after being held by the regime's infamous morality police for allegedly failing to follow the country's conservative clothing code.
Following the first anniversary of the death of her death, Iran's parliament passed a so-called "hijab bill" on the wearing of clothing, with violations punishable by up to ten years in prison.