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Iranwire – The incident involving Armita Geravand, a 16-year-old Iranian girl who fell into a coma on October 1, remains a top headline in Iran.
Amid widespread reactions on social media to reports that the teenager fell victim of the brutal enforcement of Iran’s mandatory headscarf law, there has been a conspicuous absence of “morality” officers in Tehran’s metro network.
The human rights organization Hengaw said on October 4 that not a single hijab enforcement officer has reported for duty at their workplaces since news emerged that Armita was in a coma.
Some social media users also reported that they have not seen hijab enforcers in metro stations since October 3.
It remains unclear whether this absence is connected to Armita’s hospitalization.
Since August, Tehran Municipality has publicly announced the hiring of “veilers” to enforce hijab regulations and prevent violators from entering subway trains.
On October 4, the release and subsequent deletion by the online newspaper Faraz Daily of an interview with Armita’s father sparked suspicion.
In the interview, Ahmad Geravand stated, “I don’t have much information about Armita’s condition. I’m not at the hospital. I’m at work. I haven’t heard from Armita for a few days, and I’m not following the news. As far as I know, she is in a coma. That’s all I know.”
The interview was swiftly removed from Faraz Daily’s website, with its editor Maziar Khosravi explaining it had a “significant mistake.”
Simultaneously, a CCTV video purportedly showing Armita entering the Shohada metro station and boarding a train was released.
Journalist Masoud Kazemi questioned whether the girl in the video is indeed Armita and whether the footage is from the same day as the incident.
Meanwhile, as concerns grew over Armita’s condition, reports of threats against her friends and relatives began to surface.
According to these reports, the Geravand family has been unable to approach the teenager closely and have been warned against sharing information about her condition.
It was also revealed that the two girls who were with Armita during the incident were detained for several hours and threatened not to disclose any details.
The Coordination Council of Iran Educators said on October 4 that the director of security at the Ministry of Education visited Armita’s high school and threatened the teachers not to publish information or photos of the girl online.
Security agents from the education department also warned Armita’s classmates against sharing any information about her condition.
The Islamic Republic’s officials maintain that Armita fainted due to “a loss of blood pressure.”
The judiciary’s Mizan news agency quoted the two girls who accompanied Armita on the day of the incident as saying: “That day everything was normal. We were listening to music, talking and laughing. We boarded the train one by one, but Armita fell backward in less than a second, and her head struck the platform’s edge. No one warned us, and no one pushed Armita.”
A journalist from Shargh newspaper who had been trying to cover Armita’s story by going to the hospital where she is being treated was briefly arrested. Access to the hospital has been restricted by security forces.
The incident involving Armita garnered the attention of foreign officials and international media.
The Committee to Protect Journalists called on the authorities “not to relaunch their vicious censorship machine by detaining and harassing journalists covering this important event.”
Germany’s Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock on social media platform X said: “Once again a young woman in #Iran is fighting for her life. Just because she showed her hair in the subway. It is unbearable.”
Hanna Neumann, a German representative in the European Parliament, said: “Another young woman has fallen into a coma due to non-compliance with hijab regulations. Another journalist was threatened for reporting on this matter.”
