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Iranwire – Security forces have tightened security in and around Tehran’s Fajr Air Force Hospital, where 16-year-old Armita Geravand is in a coma after a reported assault on the subway.
According to information obtained by IranWire, Armita was admitted to the hospital on October 1 with a “head trauma.” The incident has led to allegations that the teenager was beaten by hijab enforcement officers, as the country remains on high alert just over a year after the death in police custody of 22-year old Mahsa Amini, who had been arrested for allegedly wearing a headscarf improperly.
Amini’s tragic death sparked monthslong anti-government protests and a state crackdown in which more than 500 people were killed and thousands were unlawfully arrested.
Journalist Samira Rahi shared on October 4 a photo showing the deployment of police forces outside Fajr Air Force Hospital.
“Two police cars are positioned at the entrance to the emergency room of Fajar Hospital, and the presence of plainclothes officers is evident,” she wrote on X, citing an informed source.
“Similarly, a significant number of vehicles and special forces have been stationed at the Coca-Cola intersection” on Dehghan Street, Rahi added.
The journalist further reported that “security forces have been inspecting the vehicles passing through this area and, in some instances, have been scrutinizing the content of the passengers’ cell phones.”
Radio Farda quoted a source in the hospital as saying that plainclothes officers are present in the hospital’s intensive care unit.
The human rights organization Hengaw, which shared a picture of Armina in her hospital bed, reported on October 4, that the mobile phones of all members of the Geravand family had been seized by security agents.
Earlier, a source with knowledge of Armita’s condition told IranWire that the teenager was in a critical condition when she was hospitalized on the morning of October 1.
“The initial examination by the emergency technician indicated a GCS of 3,” the source said.
The GCS, or Glasgow Coma Scale, is used to describe the extent of impaired consciousness in acute medical and trauma patients. The highest possible GCS score is 15, and the lowest is 3. Generally, a score of 8 or fewer means the patient is in a coma.
A video published by the official IRNA news agency shows Armita’s mother as saying that she lost consciousness following a drop in blood pressure. According to IranWire sources, the family is under pressure from security agencies to recite the official version of the incident.
Many images published on social networks and government media show hijab enforcement officers warning women without a headscarf in Tehran’s metro system. The incidents sometimes lead to verbal and physical altercations.
In CCTV footage released by IRNA, three schoolgirls, who are not wearing headscarves, can be seen entering a train. Moments later a group of passengers assists an apparently unconscious girl, pulling her out to the platform.
Eyewitnesses were quoted as saying that Armita and two friends were confronted by agents at Shohada metro station who demanded that they wear head coverings.
Following a verbal dispute, one of the agents allegedly pushed one of the girls, who fell to the ground.
Authorities in the Islamic Republic refuted that, claiming that the teenager fainted due to “a loss of blood pressure.”
Masoud Dorosti, CEO of the Tehran Metro Operation Company, told IRNA that Armita had “no verbal or physical altercation with passengers or metro personnel.”
No footage from potential surveillance cameras from inside the train has so far been made available to the public, and independent journalists have not been allowed to cover the incident.
A reporter from Shargh who went to Fajr Air Force Hospital to prepare a report was detained by security agents for several hours.
The Committee to Protect Journalists “is watching with concern the situation unfolding in Iran following reports of the beating of a teenager for alleged improper wearing of her hijab,” CPJ Middle East and North Africa Program Coordinator Sherif Mansour said
“This news has ominous echoes of last year’s tragic death-in-custody of Mahsa Amini, and we call on Iranian authorities not to relaunch their vicious censorship machine by detaining and harassing journalists covering this important event,” he added.
