Another Iranian Girl Has Reportedly Been Hospitalized Over Hijab Mandate

A Kurdish teenage girl is in critical condition after collapsing on a Tehran metro on October 1. CCTV footage showed 16-year-old Armita Geravand boarding a train with her friends; immediately after, her friends were seen reaching for the ground and pulling Geravand off the platform. Hengaw, a Kurdish human rights NGO, released a statement and photos of Geravand after sustaining severe injuries, suggesting this incident was caused by the Iranian Regime’s morality police for not wearing a hijab.

The case echoes that of Zhina (Mahsa) Amini, a 22-year-old Kurdish woman killed by the morality police for “improperly” wearing her headscarf while traveling with her family to Tehran last year. Amini’s death sparked an uprising in Iran labeled “Zan, Zendegi, Azadi,” also known as “Woman, Life, Freedom.”

According to the statement, Geravand’s mother was arrested Thursday, but Iran’s judiciary has denied this. Both of Geravand’s parents were in a video posted the day before by the Islamic Republic News Agency (IRNA) asserting she hit her head after a drop in her blood pressure, but Hengaw claims this may have been a forced interview.

Masoud Dorosti, managing director for the Tehran Metro, also told IR state media there was no verbal or physical conflict between Geravand and anyone else at the Shohada station.

After Geravand was transported to the Fajr hospital for medical treatment, journalist Maryam Lotfi was arrested and briefly detained for reporting the incident and Geravand’s whereabouts. The two journalists who reported on Amini’s death, Niloofar Hamedi and Elahe Mohammadi, have been imprisoned for over a year on the basis of “conspiracy and rebellion against national security.”

Although government officials have not confirmed that morality police officers severely assaulted Geravand, this mirrors the response from the IR after Amini’s passing, fueling unabating anger from Iranian citizens.

Shortly before the first anniversary of mass protests in Iran, President Ebrahim Raisi went on air with NBC News to defend the government’s crackdowns on protests, claiming those who try to create instability within the Islamic Republic would pay a “big cost.” Raisi also blamed the U.S. and European powers for the conflict.

Protests have not been as numbered, but still continue across Iran and the world to stand in solidarity for the women of Iran.