Tehran, Oct 28 (EFE).- Iranian teenager Armita Geravand died Saturday after 28 days in coma following an alleged altercation with the authorities for not wearing the Islamic veil on the Tehran metro, state-owned IRNA agency reported.
Iranian authorities have claimed that the 16-year-old hit her head after suffering a drop in blood pressure on the capital’s metro rail.
However, human rights groups have denounced that she was attacked by the country’s moral police for not covering herself with the mandatory Islamic veil, or hijab.
IRNA reported that she went into a coma from the injury to her head, and died after 28 days of hospitalization at an intensive care unit.
CCTV footage released by IRNA did not show any direct assault on Geravand, but rights organizations such as Amnesty International claim the video was tampered to conceal what actually happened inside.
The Kurdish human rights organization Hengaw, based in Oslo, has denounced that the young woman was assaulted for not wearing the Islamic veil, mandatory in the country since 1983.
The case is similar to that of Mahsa Amini, who died a little over a year ago after being arrested by the moral police for not wearing the Islamic veil properly. The authorities had then attributed her death to natural causes.
The one-year anniversary of Amini’s death was commemorated on Sep. 16 amid heavy repression and a massive deployment of security forces to prevent widespread protests from taking place.
In recent months, the Iranian Government has been trying to reimpose the wearing of the veil, with the presence of street patrols, the denial of services and the adoption of a law that tightens punishments for women not covering their hair adequately. EFE
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