"Armita Garavand, a student residing in Tehran, died an hour ago after intensive medical treatment and 28 days of hospitalization in the special care unit," the Borna news agency, affiliated with the Ministry of Youth and Sports, said.
The 16-year-old from a Kurdish region had been hospitalized at Tehran's Fajr Hospital since October 1 after fainting in the capital's metro. The circumstances of this malaise are controversial. Authorities said the teen had suffered a "drop in blood pressure" and denied any "verbal or physical altercation" between her "and passengers or subway executives."
Injured in an "assault" on members of the morality police?
On Saturday, the local news agency Tasnim cited the "official doctors' opinion" that the girl had "suffered a fall resulting in brain damage, followed by continuous convulsions, decreased cerebral oxygenation and cerebral edema, after a sudden drop in blood pressure."
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But according to NGOs, the high school student was seriously injured in an "assault" by members of the morality police, who are responsible for enforcing the obligation for Iranian women to wear the veil in public.
The case came just over a year after the death in custody on 16 September 2022 of Mahsa Amini, a 22-year-old Iranian Kurdish woman arrested by the morality police for allegedly violating strict dress rules imposed on women in Iran.
The death sparked a widespread protest movement in the country that left hundreds of people dead, including security officers, and thousands arrested.