By Pishtaz | 2023-10-05

An Iranian teenager who hit her head when she was allegedly shoved into a Tehran Metro train by the "morality police" remained in a coma on Thursday (October 5), amid conflicting reports and speculation about the incident.

Sixteen-year-old Armita Geravand was transferred to Tehran's Fajr Hospital on Sunday morning after losing consciousness due to "aggravated assault by the morality police," according to the Hengaw Organization for Human Rights.

Iran's so-called morality police had been enforcing compulsory hair coverage at the entrance of the Shohada metro station, the Kurd-focused rights group said, accusing the police of pushing Geravand, who hit her head on a stationary train.

As she headed to school on Sunday morning, Geravand and her two friends were at the Shohada Station, unveiled, when the teenager was reportedly approached by female morality police officers and got into a confrontation with them.

One of the officers then pushed Geravand as she was getting onto the train, causing her to fall, hit her head and lose consciousness, according to Hengaw.

As of Thursday, the teenager -- a native of the majority Kurdish province of Kermanshah in western Iran, who lives in Tehran with her family -- remains hospitalized, in critical condition and heavily guarded by regime agents.

Security forces have not allowed her relatives to visit her. The hospital is surrounded by security, and reporters are not allowed inside.

Journalist Maryam Lotfi of the Iranian reformist Shargh daily newspaper attempted to enter the hospital but was immediately arrested. She was later released, the newspaper said.

Hengaw published a picture of a hospitalized patient -- Geravand, it said -- with a heavily bandaged head, attached to a feeding tube.

The picture has been circulating on news sites and social media.

According to Hengaw, government security agents have since seized the mobile phones of all members of her family, allegedly to prevent them from sending any recorded images after the hospital photo was circulated.

Mantle of secrecy

News of the Sunday incident was kept under wraps until Wednesday, when state-owned news agency IRNA broadcast a closed circuit TV (CCTV) video released by Tehran Metro and interviewed Tehran Metro's managing director, Masoud Dorosti.

Dorosti denied that morality police officers had been involved in the incident, and claimed the officers did not have contact with Geravand, even verbally.

He said the teenager "fell," likely due to a drop in her blood pressure, though it is unclear how he arrived at this conclusion in the absence of a medical report.

At the time of the incident, "a passenger, apparently a physician, tended to Geravand until first responders arrived, revived her, stabilized her, and transferred her to the hospital," Dorosti added.

"Rumors about a confrontation with metro agents... are untrue and CCTV footage refutes this claim," he told IRNA.

Observers noted that Dorosti's use of the word "revival" was interesting, given that she remains in a coma, under tight surveillance.

They also noted that the Tehran Metro video seems to be edited, as it does not appear to show the teens on the platform but instead shows the girl's friends pulling her off the train.

Geravand's two friends, the two teenagers who were with her when she fell, have not been identified and have not spoken as of yet.

State-affiliated media outlets on Wednesday claimed that morality police officers are now referred to as "hejab-keepers," who simply "remind women to cover their hair, and do not resort to any physical contact."

Many Iranians do not agree with this characterization.

They say the regime has been aggressively enforcing its rules for women's coverage, after easing up on them for almost a year amid the widespread protests triggered by the death of Mahsa Amini in morality police custody.

If morality police officers had not confronted Geravand on the metro, they say, there would be no reason for secrecy, and no reason to restrict access to the hospital or to seize the phones of her family members.

Fear for fate of nation

Many point to the tragically similar incident involving Amini, who fell into a coma and subsequently died in custody on September 16, 2022, following a confrontation with morality police officers over hair coverage.

On social media, many Iranians are calling for new action from "Women, Life, Freedom" -- the protest movement that started after Amini's death and continued for months across the country.

But some who spoke to Pishtaz said they are fearful of their fate if they protest.

"Did tragedy strike again? Is another young woman about to lose her life over a headscarf?!" asked a 52-year-old Iranian mother who did not wish to be named.

"I fear for my daughters' lives," she told Pishtaz. "They are 19 and 14. They go to school; they take the metro; they walk on the street. They don't want to cover their hair, and I don't want to force them to do so out of fear."

"But I want my girls to live and thrive, as any mother would," she added. "What are we to do?"

"If we go out and protest, we might get arrested or killed, as hundreds did in the past year. If we don't do anything and remain indifferent, we have no freedom."

"I fear for our fate as a nation," she told Pishtaz.