The World Briefly

October 30, 2023

The Song Remains the Same

Iran

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Iranian teenager Armita Geravand died over the weekend, according to state media, nearly a month after the 16-year-old girl fell into a coma following a confrontation with Iran’s morality police, the New York Times reported.

Geravand’s death came a week after authorities declared that she was brain-dead after weeks in a coma.

The incident began on Oct. 1 when Geravand and her two friends were stopped on a Tehran subway car by officers enforcing the country’s strict Islamic headscarf law. Video footage showed the three girls entering the subway car without the mandatory hijabs, but then showed two of Geravand’s friends pulling her unconscious body back onto the platform.

Iranian officials said Geravand fell into a coma after she fainted and hit her head. But they didn’t allow family or friends to visit her in the hospital. State media released an interview with her parents, where they repeated the official narrative that she had hit her head after fainting.

But critics and people familiar with the incident countered that an officer pushed Geravand, who hit her head on a metal object as she fell, during an argument in the subway car. They also accused the government of forcing her parents to repeat official statements.

Geravand’s case came a few weeks after the first anniversary of the death of Mahsa Amini. The 22-year-old woman died in the custody of the morality police after being detained for allegedly flouting the hijab rules.

Her death sparked months-long protests against Iran’s strict dress code and the ruling clerics.

This story originally appeared in the October 30, 2023 newsletter, Something Old, Something New.