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RFL/RE – In a major show of defiance, Iranians have staged new anti-government demonstrations in several cities to protest the death of Armita Garavand, who succumbed over the weekend to injuries suffered in an alleged confrontation with Iran’s morality police in the Tehran subway over a head-scarf violation.
Hours after the student’s funeral on October 29, which was marked by the violent arrest of several civil activists, anti-government slogans and graffiti in memory of Garavand again were observed in various cities including Tehran, Karaj, Mashhad, Sari, and Shiraz.
In Tehran’s Ekbatan neighborhood, which has been one of the epicenters of protests in the Iranian capital over the past year following the September 2022 death of Mahsa Amini while in police custody for an alleged hijab violation, protesters chanted anti-government slogans from windows and rooftops and “Death to Khamenei, the murderer” and “Death to the dictator” — references to Supreme Leader Ali Ayatollah Khamenei — echoed through the streets.
Such slogans were also heard in several other neighborhoods in Tehran including Amirabad Tehranpars, and Zafar. Protesters also refuted the government’s narrative regarding Garavand’s death with slogans like “They killed our Armita and blamed it on the hijab.”
Videos also showed some protesters writing the name “Armita Garavand” and the slogan “Women, life, freedom” on the shores of Bandar Anzali in the northern province of Gilan.
Meanwhile, reports of “violence” by security forces during Garavand’s funeral have emerged.SEE ALSO:Iranian Teen Who Died After Alleged Incident With Morality Police Buried Amid Tight Security, Detentions
Reza Khandan, a civil activist and husband of human rights lawyer Nasrin Sotoudeh, confirmed his wife’s arrest during the funeral. He said that during her arrest, she was severely beaten by security agents.
According to Khandan, many of those arrested during Armita Garavand’s funeral were held at the Vozara detention center, “the same place where Mahsa Amini was killed by government agents last year.”
The Fars news agency, which is affiliated with the Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps (IRGC), confirmed Sotoudeh’s arrest, claiming she was detained for “removing her hijab and acting against society’s mental security.”
The Center for Human Rights in Iran (CHRI) said on October 30 that Sotoudeh was released after more than two hours of detention and slammed Iranian authorities for their treatment of those marking Garavand’s death.
“Beating and arresting unarmed civilians for peacefully mourning yet another death of a young girl in state custody is a continuation of the atrocities the Iranian government is continuously inflicting upon the Iranian people,” CHRI Executive Director Hadi Ghaemi said.
“These activists were at the funeral because Iranian authorities operate with impunity, killing and detaining people including teenagers for entirely peaceful actions, like showing their hair in public, or raising their voices to demand fundamental rights,” he added.
The Coordination Council of Iranian Teachers’ Unions reported the arrest of Masood Zeinalzadeh, a board member of the Tehran Teachers’ Union, during the funeral. The association also announced that Mohammad Garavand, a teachers’ rights activist, was arrested by security forces.
Rights groups and journalists say Garavand and two of her friends were confronted on October 1 by police officers for not wearing the mandatory hijab as they tried to enter a Tehran subway station.
One of the friends has said the officers physically assaulted Garavand, who later fell unconscious after entering a subway car. Officials have said Garavand suffered a sudden drop in blood pressure, fainted, and fell to the floor, hitting her head.
A source at Fajr Hospital, who spoke to Radio Farda on condition of anonymity due to security reasons, said shortly after the incident that Garavand suffered internal bleeding in the brain. She succumbed to her injuries on October 28.
Since Garavand fell into a coma, Iranian officials have pressured those around the 16-year-old student to avoid talking about the situation or later on commemorating her death.
Alborz Sadeghi, the son of Manzar Zarabi, a mother who lost four family members when the IRGC shot down a Ukrainian plane in January 2022, told RFERL’s Radio Farda that his mother was arrested after being “severely beaten” during Garavand’s burial.
Khandan said she had also been released.
Garavand’s case, and suggestions of a cover-up by the authorities, has drawn parallels with the events leading up to the death of Amini.
In recent months, Tehran’s municipality has deployed agents known as “hijab guards” in Tehran’s subway to confront women and girls failing to wear the mandatory hijab.
