Armita Geravand In Coma; IHRNGO Calls for Independent International Investigation
Iran Human Rights (IHRNGO); October 4, 2023: Armita Geravand (Garavand) is a 16-year-old girl who is in a coma at Tehran Air Force’s Fajr Hospital suffering with brain injury following a “violent encounter with metro officers enforcing mandatory hijab.” Maryam Lotfi, a Shargh newspaper journalist sent to report on her story was also arrested to prevent reports of her condition. The only information available is currently through state media and Armita’s parents have already been forced into giving interviews parroting the official narrative.
Iran Human Rights calls for an independent investigation into events that led to the hospitalisation of Armita Geravand. Since the Islamic Republic has a long history of distorting facts and concealing evidence of their crimes, an independent international investigation is crucial to establish the details. The international community must support such an investigation by pressuring the Islamic Republic authorities to accept a UN fact-finding mission.
Director, Mahmood Amiry-Moghaddam said: “More than a year after the state murder of Jina (Mahsa) Amini and the start of the “Woman, Life, Freedom” movement, the Islamic Republic continues its harassment and repression of women under the guise of fighting mandatory hijab violations. The international community must not tolerate the Islamic Republic’s gender apartheid.”
“The international community and all countries that adhere to international human rights law, must seriously investigate the cause of Armita Garavand’s condition and the Islamic Republic must hand over all related documents and evidence to the UN’s fact-finding mission,” he added.
16-year-old Armita Geravand was transferred to the Tehran Air Force Fajr Hospital where she is in a coma after passing out at the Shohada metro station in Tehran on 1 October.
The next day, security forces arrested Maryam Lotfi, a journalist from Shargh newspaper who went to the hospital to report on Armita’s condition. She was released hours later.
On 3 October, the Islamic Republic’s IRNA news agency published a forced dictated-interview with Armita’s parents in which her mother stammers as she holds back her tears: “I think they said her blood pressure dropped and her head hit a metro edge as she fell to the ground…”
IRNA also published an edited CCTV clip of a girl being carried out of a train. However footage of her entering the metro station, getting on the train and events leading to her fainting inside the wagon have not been published. This is while all metro stations and trains are equipped with CCTV cameras. Refusing to publish the footage only increases doubts about the official narrative.
According to two separate accounts by witnesses shared online, Armita Geravand was physically assaulted by metro officers enforcing the mandatory hijab before or after entering the train at Shohada station.
Armita Geravand being in a coma after physical assault by state forces for violating mandatory hijab laws is reminiscent of Jina (Mahsa) Amini’s state murder a year ago. Jina was a 22-year-old Kurdish girl who was violently arrested by the morality police on 13 September 2022 and died in their custody on 16 September. Iran Human Rights called it a state murder and called on the United Nations Human Rights Council (UNHRC) to force the Islamic Republic authorities into accepting a UN fact-finding mission.
On 24 November 2022, the UNHRC adopted Resolution S35/1 to establish an International Independent Fact-Finding Mission (FFMI) on the Islamic Republic of Iran’s human rights violations since the start of the “Woman-Life- Freedom” protests.
Iran Human Rights now calls for international community pressure for Iran to allow an investigation team into the country to independently investigate how Armita fell into a coma. If not, they will cover up another crime and the perpetrators will escape accountability again.
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