Iranian teen girl dies after 'assault by police' for not wearing headscarf

A teenage Iranian girl has died after she was allegedly assaulted by the country’s morality police for not wearing a headscarf, Iranian state media has said.

Armita Geravand, 16, suffered "severe injuries" after an altercation with the so-called morality police at Shohada train station in the Iranian capital Tehran on 1 October, according to human rights organisation Hengaw. She then fell into a coma in hospital with severe brain damage before dying earlier today.

"Unfortunately, the brain damage to the victim caused her to spend some time in a coma and she died a few minutes ago", the IRNA report read. It continued: "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."

CCTV shows women pulling Armita Geravand from a train car on the Tehran Metro in Tehran (AP)

The death of Armita comes the one-year anniversary of the death of 22-year-old Mahsa Amini which sparked nationwide protests at the time. Geravand’s death threatens to reignite the widespread and unprecedented anger, as women across the country still defy Iran’s mandatory headscarf, or hijab, law as a sign of their discontent with Iran’s theocracy. Activists believe that Armita may have been pushed or attacked for not wearing the hijab and are demanding an independent investigation by the United Nations fact-finding mission on Iran.

What happened in the few seconds after Armita Geravand stepped onto the train is still unclear. One friend told Iranian state television that she hit her head on the station’s platform, but the CCTV from outside the carriage was blocked by a bystander. Her limp body is carried off seconds later. Iranian state TV’s report did not include any footage from inside the train itself and offered no explanation on why it hadn’t been released despite the Tehran Metro having multiple CCTV cameras. Activists calling for the investigation have cited the state TV’s history of airing hundreds of coerced confessions.

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The incident at the station came just weeks after Iran passed draconian legislation imposing much harsher penalties on women who breach the country’s already strict hijab rules. The bill, which was approved by 152 lawmakers in Iran’s 290-seat parliament, requires ratification by the Guardian Council, a clerical body that serves as a constitutional watchdog. It would take effect for a preliminary period of three years.

Meanwhile, imprisoned Iranian activist Narges Mohammadi won the Nobel Peace Prize earlier this month in recognition of her tireless campaigning for women’s rights and democracy, and against the death penalty. The Iranian government criticised her awarding of the prize as a political stunt, without acknowledging its own decadeslong campaign targeting Mohammadi for her work.