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DUBAI — A confrontation in Iran with the morality police that left a teenage woman in a coma is stoking renewed mistrust and anger with the nation’s management and attracting overseas criticism.
The incident remembers the loss of life in custody a yr in the past of Mahsa Amini over costume code violations, which sparked months of protests in Iran. On Friday, the Nobel Peace Prize was awarded to Narges Mohammadi, a girls’s rights activist imprisoned in Iran who has repeatedly spoken out in regards to the draconian enforcement of sporting a scarf.
Armita Geravand, 16, was on her solution to faculty with two associates on a Tehran metro when she was stopped for not observing the nation’s strict Islamic costume code that requires girls to cowl their hair.
2023 Nobel Peace Prize winner is Narges Mohammadi, Iranian activist
Iranian officers say what occurred subsequent is she fainted attributable to low blood sugar. However activists declare she was assaulted by morality police. Whereas movies had been launched of her shifting by the subway station with associates, footage of the particular confrontation contained in the subway automotive has not been launched.
Following this week’s experiences of Geravand’s accidents, activists referred to as on the federal government to permit journalists to talk to her family and friends. As a substitute, state media launched video interviews along with her mother and father, each of whom appeared grief-stricken and shocked.
“I believe they mentioned her blood stress fell,” Geravand’s mom, Shahin Ahmadi, advised the digital camera, her phrases halting and at instances obscure. “She fell on the ground and her head hit the sting of the metro.”
Within the interview, her mom mentioned she had seen video footage from contained in the subway automotive. “I don’t suppose what individuals say has occurred,” she mentioned, claiming the video didn’t depict something controversial.
The statements from Armita’s mother and father had been launched to quell suspicion, however for a lot of it solely aggravated their mistrust.
“The federal government’s habits is indicative of its concerted efforts to forestall the reality from coming to mild concerning Armita Geravand,” mentioned Mohammadi in a submit on her Instagram web page that’s managed with a colleague only a day earlier than she received the peace prize.
Mohammadi described the interview with Armita’s mother and father as “ambiguous and non-transparent” and accused Iranian leaders of making an attempt to “forestall the reality from rising about Armita.”
Activists have been calling on the federal government to launch further safety movies.
“We won’t allow you to destroy the reality; Publish the entire video contained in the subway,” Hossein Ronaghi, a distinguished activist beforehand imprisoned by Iranian authorities, posted to social media.
The destiny of Geravand additionally attracted the priority of overseas officers, with Germany’s overseas minister, Annalena Baerbock, noting the similarities with the case of Amini. “As soon as once more a younger lady in #Iran is preventing for her life. Simply because she confirmed her hair on the subway. It’s insufferable,” she tweeted, including that her mother and father needs to be by her aspect quite than put in entrance of cameras.
Abram Paley, the U.S. particular envoy on Iran, mentioned he was “shocked and anxious about experiences that Iran’s so-called morality police have assaulted 16-year-old Armita Geravand.” He added that experiences of the arrest of a journalist investigating the case additionally had been unacceptable.
In an obvious retort to a few of these statements, Iranian International Ministry spokesman Nasser Kanaani advised that American, British and German officers concern themselves with their very own putting health-care employees as a substitute of constructing “interventionist & biased remarks & expressing insincere concern over Iranian girls & women.”
Iran initially appeared to have curbed its morality police after final yr’s protests, however the patrols had been resumed this yr because the nation took steps as soon as once more to tighten dress-code enforcement.
After Amini’s loss of life, many ladies stopped protecting their hair, and a few even burned headscarves at rallies.