A Norway based human rights organization reported that the mother of a 16-year-old who is in a coma after an altercation with Iran’s morality police has been detained by regime authorities.
The Hengaw Organization for Human Rights reported on Thursday that Shahin Ahmadi, the mother of Armita Geravand, was detained near Fajr Air Force Hospital in Tehran. The report stated that her current whereabouts are unknown.
Fajr Hospital is where her daughter was reportedly taken following injuries sustained Sunday, after the police confronted her about not wearing a headscarf on the Tehran Metro. Reports indicate that Geravand is being treated under heavy security and that visitors have been turned away.
State media outlet IRNA reported that Iranian judicial officials denied that any arrests have taken place, and reports of Geravand’s "loss of consciousness" was a result of her suffering from “low blood pressure” due to skipping breakfast.
In the likely presence of Iranian authorities, Ahmadi spoke to IRNA on Tuesday acknowledging the official version of the event and saying, “my daughter, I think her blood pressure, I don’t know what, I think, they say that her blood pressure dropped then she fell down and her head hit the edge of the metro.”
Iran Wire reported on Wednesday that a source at the hospital told them that the teenager had injuries consistent with a “head trauma,” and had been admitted in a comatose state.
Hengaw also reported that the family members of the victim are currently under security restrictions which forbid them from discussing the status of their daughter publicly.
There is concern that Geravand could meet a fate similar to that of Mahsa Amini, a 22-year-old Kurdish-Iranian woman who died of head injuries while in police custody after being arrested for allegedly wearing her headscarf incorrectly.
Since the 1979 Islamic revolution in Iran, all women are required to cover their heads and wear loose fitting clothing in public.
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