Right groups, including the Kurdish-Iranian group Hengaw, were the first to disclose Armita Geravand’s hospitalization. They shared images of the 16-year-old girl, Armita Geravand, on social media, revealing her unconscious state with a respiratory tube and a bandage covering her head, visibly connected to life support.
However, Iran has denied that Geravand was hurt after a confrontation on October 1 with officers enforcing the mandatory Islamic dress code in the Tehran metro.
Rights advocates have raised concerns that Geravand might face the same fate as Mahsa Amini, whose death in the custody of morality police last year sparked months of nationwide anti-government protests that posed one of the boldest challenges to Iran’s clerical rulers.
The news came as an Iranian court handed out long prison sentences to two journalists over their coverage of Amini’s death on Sunday.
Niloofar Hamedi and Elaheh Mohammadi were sentenced to 13 and 12 years in prison respectively on charges including collaboration with the US government and acting against national security.
Since a widespread revolution ousted the secular, Western-supported Shah in 1979, Iran’s theocratic regime has imposed restrictions on women’s dress. Under the law, women are required to cover their hair and wear long, loose-fitting clothes.
Violators face public rebuke, fines, or arrest. However, defying the strict Islamic dress code, more women have been appearing unveiled in public places such as malls, restaurants, and shops across the country since Amini’s death.
