Iranian Teenage Girls Reportedly Critical After Being Actted By Moral Police

Illustration. (Wikimedia Commons/Tijl Vercaemer)

JAKARTA - An Iranian teenage girl is in critical condition in hospital, two prominent human rights activists said, after falling into a coma following what they said was a confrontation with officers on Tehran's metro transport network for violating the country's strict dress laws.

What happened to a teenage girl named Armita Geravand (16) is reminiscent of what happened to Mahsa Amini (22), who had been in a coma before dying in Iran's moral police custody last year and sparking months of national protests.

CCTV footage shared at IRNA showed Geravand without a hijab accompanied by two of his female friends walking towards the train from the metro platform. While entering the cabin, one of the girls was seen immediately stepping back and falling to the ground, before the other girl was dragged to the ground until she fainted from the cabin by passengers.

"We are monitoring the case closely. He is in a coma in the hospital's Intensive Care Unit and his condition is critical. Relatives say there are a lot of plainclothes (officers) in hospital," said one activist in Iran.

Another activist said security forces had banned Geravand's parents from uploading photos of them on social media or talking to human rights groups.

The activists spoke on condition of anonymity because of the sensitiveness of the matter.

Meanwhile, authorities have denied claims by human rights groups that Geravand fell into a coma on Sunday, after confrontation with officers who implemented strict dress codes in the country.

There has been no immediate response from the Iranian Interior Ministry to requests for comment on the incident.

Separately, Tehran's Head of Metro Operations Company, Masoud Dorosti, told IRNA that CCTV footage shows no signs of verbal or physical conflict between passengers or company employees.

"Iran's security agency said the conditions were due to low pressure, a scenario that these institutions often repeated," Iran-based human rights groups, Dadban, said through social media.

In a video uploaded at state news agency IRNA, her parents said that their daughter had decreased blood pressure, lost balance and hit her head in the metro cabin.

"I think my daughter's blood pressure is low, I'm not too sure, I think they say her blood pressure is low," her mother said, adding there was no point in causing controversy.

However, human rights groups on social media have asked authorities to publish footage from inside the cabin, claiming statements of their parents were made under pressure.