Hurt by moral police?
16-year-old Iranian woman succumbs to brain injuries
October 28, 2023, 12:32 p.m
The case is reminiscent of Jina Mahsa Amini, whose death led to mass protests in Iran: Another young woman succumbs to her serious injuries. Activists blame the notorious morality police for their deaths.
A 16-year-old Iranian student has died after an alleged confrontation with the notorious morality police at a clinic in the capital Tehran. “Unfortunately, she was in a coma for quite some time due to brain injuries. She died a few minutes ago,” the state news agency Irna reported. The young woman Armita Garawand was declared brain dead around a week ago.
The circumstances of her death are controversial in Iran. According to activists, the teenager, who came from a Kurdish region, was seriously injured when she was attacked by moral police in the subway at the beginning of October for violating Islamic veiling regulations. Apparently she wasn’t wearing a headscarf. Garawand fell into a coma and was treated in a hospital in Tehran.
Iranian authorities deny that the teenager was attacked. According to the state news agency Irna, Garawand had fainted due to “low blood pressure.” The Tasnim news agency quoted the doctors’ “official” assessment that the 16-year-old “suffered a fall that led to a brain injury.” This was followed by cramps as well as “reduced oxygen supply to the brain and cerebral edema following a sudden drop in blood pressure.”
Parallels to the death of Jina Mahsa Amini
Garawand’s fate brings back memories of the death of 22-year-old Jina Mahsa Amini after a dispute with the moral police over compliance with clothing regulations last autumn. She was arrested because of an allegedly ill-fitting headscarf. According to eyewitnesses, she was hit on the head after her arrest. At the police station she complained of a headache and collapsed there. Amini died after several days in a coma.
Authorities claimed at the time that she had suffered a heart attack. Her death sparked the worst protests in decades last year. The nationwide protests were suppressed by the state leadership. Since then, many women have demonstratively ignored the obligation to wear a headscarf. Iran’s government responded to the numerous headscarf violations with, among other things, penal reform.
16-year-old Iranian student Armita Garawand.
(Photo: picture alliance / abaca)
The latest version of the new headscarf law, which has not yet come into force, provides for harsh penalties for violating Islamic clothing rules. These include fines for multiple violations. In extreme cases, up to 15 years in prison and the equivalent of more than 5,000 euros in fines can be imposed.
Criticism of the moral police
Iran’s notorious moral guardians are repeatedly exposed to harsh criticism, including from the middle of society. During the wave of protests in autumn 2022, the units initially disappeared from the street scene before the return of the moral police was announced in mid-July.
The headscarf requirement has been the law for more than 40 years in the country, which now has a population of almost 90 million. Duty is considered one of the ideological pillars of the Islamic Republic.