A TEENAGER has died after being brutally beaten by Iran’s morality police for not wearing a hijab, witnesses allege.
Armita Geravand, 16, spent a month in a coma before succumbing to the brain damage she is believed to have sustained on a train.
Iranian teen Armita has died after allegedly being beaten for not wearing a hijab
APCCTV footage showed Armita’s body being dragged by friends from a train carriage[/caption]
The teenager in hospital following the tragic incident, according to activists
Human rights organisations claim hijab enforcers are to blame for her “severe injuries”.
CCTV footage shared by the Iran‘s state-run IRNA news agency showed the teenager without a hijab walking towards the Tehran metro with two female friends.
The girls enter the carriage before one, who is wearing a hijab, abruptly steps back onto the platform.
She immediately reaches for the floor of the train.
The friend and several others are then seen carrying Armita’s limp body from the carriage and laying her on the floor of the platform.
A witness claimed a female officer started arguing with the teen shortly after she entered the carriage, telling the Guardian: “The chador-clad woman screamed at her asking her why was she not covered.
“Armita then told her, ‘Do I ask you to remove your headscarf? Why are you asking me to wear one?’
“Their argument then turned violent. The hijab enforcer started physically attacking Armita and … violently pushed her.”
IRNA reported on Saturday that she died “after suffering from brain damage”.
The report read: “Unfortunately, the brain damage to the victim caused her to spend some time in a coma and she died a few minutes ago.
“According to the official theory of Armita Geravand’s doctors, after a sudden drop in blood pressure, she suffered a fall, a brain injury, followed by continuous convulsions, decreased cerebral oxygenation and a cerebral edema.”
It comes after Armita was earlier declared “brain dead” by IRNA.
Iranian state television claimed the teenager hit her head on the train station’s platform, but activists believe the truth is more sinister.
One witness claimed Armita was conscious when she fell on the ground while others reported seeing the female hijab enforcer who allegedly attacked the teen waiting behind an ambulance.
Activists believe the footage broadcast on state TV is incomplete as it includes no clips from inside the carriage, despite most of the train’s cars having multiple CCTV cameras.
Opposition figures claim at least 100 seconds of footage are missing.
The Hengaw Organisation for Human Rights alleged: “During the last 28 days, the Islamic Republic of Iran tried to distort the narrative of the government murder of this teenage girl.”
Armita’s parents previously appeared in state media footage citing a blood pressure issue, fall, or both as having contributed to their daughter’s critical condition.
Meanwhile, the Tehran metro managing director denied there was “any verbal or physical conflict” between the 16-year-old and “passengers or metro executives”.
Hengaw have called for an independent investigation by the UN’s fact-finding mission on Iran.
It comes after a 22-year-old woman was also allegedly killed by Iran’s morality police for failing to comply with the country’s strict hijab rules.
Mahsa Amini was declared brain dead after she was reportedly beaten into a coma by the police in September last year.
Two more young girls met similar tragic ends in the weeks that followed, with Sarina Esmailzadeh, 16, allegedly beaten around the head with batons.
Nika Shahkarmi, 17, was reportedly discovered in a morgue with a fractured skull and smashed nose.