An Iranian rights group says authorities have detained the mother of a teenage girl who remains hospitalized following what activists call a confrontation with police for not wearing a hijab.
Rights group Hengaw reported the arrest Thursday of the mother of Armita Geravand.
Geravand was on her way to school with friends on Sunday morning without wearing the mandatory hijab. Activists say she entered Line 4 of the Tehran subway, and at Shohada Square Station, following an altercation with authorities, she was pushed and her head struck a metal object, rendering her unconscious.
Masoud Dorosti, the CEO of the Metro Operating Co., asserted that a drop in blood pressure likely caused the unconsciousness of the 16-year-old girl. He also emphasized that there is no recorded image of her being pushed by anyone, including Metro staff.
Video released by the Islamic Republic News Agency includes none from inside the subway or when the girl became unconscious. However, her entry into the subway, when her health appeared normal, has been captured on camera.
On Wednesday, a reliable source told VOA that friends and family of Geravand have been threatened and prohibited from giving interviews to any media outlet without prior authorization from authorities.
According to the source, the area leading to Fajr Air Force Hospital, where Geravand is currently being treated, is under “heightened security” measures, with a significant presence of plainclothes personnel stationed nearby.
Ahmad Geravand, Armita's father, said on Wednesday that he has no information about his daughter's condition and has been in the dark for several days.
In an interview, which was removed from the Faraz online newspaper's website shortly after it was published, he emphasized, “I am not aware. As far as I know, she is in a coma. That's all I know.”
U.S. Deputy Special Envoy for Iran Abram Paley wrote on X, formally Twitter, on Wednesday that Washington was following the matter closely.
"Shocked and concerned about reports that Iran's so-called morality police have assaulted 16-year-old Armita Geravand," he wrote.
Canada's minister of foreign affairs, in a message posted on X, said, “The Iranian regime continues to prove itself as a ruthless and autocratic state with no regard for its own citizens.”
Iran’s morality police returned to the streets earlier this year to enforce mandatory veiling laws.
Their presence had largely stopped following nationwide anti-government protests sparked by last year's death of 22-year-old Mahsa Amini in police custody. Amini had been detained by the morality police for allegedly wearing her headscarf too loosely.
Although the street protests have subsided, many women in Iran have publicly opposed the mandatory hijab since Amini's death in September 2022.
