Official Iranian media reported that Armita Geravand was brain dead. The 16-year-old had been in a coma since she was admitted to the hospital on October 1, after allegedly being beaten by morality police for not wearing a headscarf on the subway. In parallel, an Iranian court sentenced two journalists who covered the death of Mahsa Amini, the young woman who died in police custody last year, to 13 and 12 years in prison.
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Armita Geravand could suffer the same fate as Mahsa Amini in Iran, Human Rights organizations fear.
Geravand, a 16-year-old Iranian teenager, entered the subway on October 1 with his hair uncovered. As security camera footage showed, she was taken out of the carriage unconscious before being taken to the hospital. Since then, the young woman has been in a coma.
Human Rights Defense Associations accuse the moral police, in charge of enforcing the dress code, of having seriously beaten the young woman for not wearing the veil. The Iranian authorities deny this version.
The published security camera images exclusively show the moment in which Armita Geravand entered and was then removed from public transport.
“The most recent reports on Geravand’s health status indicate that the condition of brain death appears certain, despite the efforts of the medical team,” reported IRNA, the Iranian state news agency.
For its part, the Kurdish-Iranian organization ‘Hengaw‘ shared the statements of Bahman Geravand, the teenager’s father: “Armita’s medical team informed us that her brain is no longer functioning and that there is no hope for her recovery.”
Bahman Geravand did not explicitly allude to brain death, but indicated that his daughter’s health has not improved since she was admitted to the hospital.
The hospitalization of Armita Geravand “reveals a severe violation of her civil liberties, including her right to freedom of decision and personal opinions. Her decision not to wear her veil resulted in physical harm, constituting a violation of her fundamental rights,” ‘Hengaw’ stated.
In Iran, a theocratic regime since 1979, the use of the Islamic veil is mandatory for women. Disobeying dress code laws means fines and arrests.
In September 2022, the death in custody of Mahsa Amini, a 22-year-old Kurdish-Iranian youth, was the trigger for a massive movement of protests led by women, which raised support around the world.
Two journalists sentenced to prison for reporting the death of Mahsa Amini
An Iranian revolutionary court sentenced journalists Niloofar Hamedi and Elaheh Mohammadi, who covered the death of Mahsa Amini, to 13 and 12 years in prison. Both had been detained for more than a year.
Hamedi was arrested after photographing Amini’s parents hugging in Tehran hospital, when their daughter was in a coma. She was the first journalist to break the news of her death. Mohammadi was detained by police after covering the young woman’s funeral in the Kurdish town of Saqez, the epicenter of the protests.
“Each received seven and six years in prison respectively for collaborating with the enemy government of the United States. In addition, five years each for acting against national security and one year for propagandizing against the system,” IRNA reported.
The journalists’ lawyers appealed the sentences. If confirmed, the time both have already spent in prison would be deducted from their sentences, reported the official Iranian media Mizan, which covers judicial news.
Niloufar and Elaheh should never have been jailed, and we condemn their sentences. The Iranian regime jails journalists because it fears the truth.
— Office of the Special Envoy for Iran (@USEnvoyIran) October 22, 2023
The US special envoy for Iran, Abram Paley, said Hamedi and Mohammadi should never have been arrested. “The Iranian regime imprisons journalists because it fears the truth,” he shared on X, former Twitter.
Reporters Without Borders denounced the “abusive sentences”, and describes Iran as one of the countries “most repressive in the world” against freedom of the press.
With Reuters and AP
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