The Iranian news agency IRNA announced this Saturday the death of Armita Geravand, a young woman attacked by the country's morality police after failing to comply with the obligation to wear a hijab.
The Iranian regime denies the attack by its officers, while official media sources maintain that the young woman had to be hospitalized from fainting after a drop in blood pressure. However, various NGOs and local journalists reported that the 16-year-old girl was attacked earlier this month by Islamic religious police when she was in a subway station in Tehran.
The Iranian press had already announced that Geravand was brain dead a week ago.
Similarities to the Mahsa Amini case
The case is reminiscent of that of Mahsa Amini in September last year. The 22-year-old Iranian woman died after being tortured by the morality police for not wearing her hijab correctly. Authorities denied causing her death.
Amini's death sparked nationwide protests, including outcry against Iran's supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Hosseini Khamenei. Due to the impact, Amini and the Women, Life, Freedom Movement in Iran received the 2023 Sakharov Prize for Freedom of Thought this month.
Also today, two journalists who revealed the Amini case were sentenced to prison by an Iranian court. Elaheh Mohammadi, a 36-year-old reporter, and Niloufar Hamedi, a 31-year-old photographer, must serve up to seven years in prison after being found guilty by an Iranian court of collaborating with the United States, conspiring with state security and making propaganda against Iran, according to the local agency Mizan Online.
