Mumbai, October 4: A 16-year-old Iranian girl has been left in a coma and is being treated in a hospital under intense security and surveillance following an attack on the Tehran subway, a rights group claimed on Tuesday, accusing the Islamic republic's famed morality police. According to the Kurdish-focused rights group Hengaw, the teenager, Armita Garawand, was severely injured in an altercation with female police officers on the Tehran subway.

The Iranian authorities have already refuted this, claiming that the girl "fainted" as a result of low blood pressure and that no security agents were involved.

Just over a year after the death in detention of Mahsa Amini, who had been detained for allegedly breaching the strict dress rules for women, Iranian authorities are on high alert for any resurgence of social unrest. Her killing spurred months of protests that shook Iran's religious authority and only waned in the face of a crackdown that activists say has resulted in thousands of arrests and hundreds of deaths.

Hengaw stated that Garawand suffered serious injuries after being caught and physically assaulted by agents of the so-called morality police at Tehran's Shohada metro station on Sunday. It stated she was being treated in Tehran's Fajr hospital under strict security and that "there are currently no visits allowed for the victim, not even from her family."

Later, the organisation released a photograph of Garawand in her hospital bed, showing her head and neck badly bandaged and hooked to a feeding tube. It was also said that her level of consciousness had not changed. Her parents spoke to Iranian state media in the hospital, but "in the presence of high-ranking security officers" and "under considerable pressure," according to Hengaw.

About the Incident

Garawand is a Tehran resident, but he is originally from Kermanshah in Kurdish-populated western Iran, according to Hengaw. In the aftermath of the event, Maryam Lotfi, a Shargh daily newspaper journalist, attempted to visit the hospital but was promptly detained. She was later freed, according to a report. The issue has sparked heated debate on social media, with some claiming that a video of the event shows the youngster, who is obviously unveiled, being forced into the metro by female police officers and then being dragged out.

(The above story first appeared on LatestLY on Oct 04, 2023 10:34 AM IST. For more news and updates on politics, world, sports, entertainment and lifestyle, log on to our website latestly.com).