Iran back on edge as morality police blamed for ‘beating 16-year-old girl into coma’

Armita Garawand has been in a coma since Sunday, allegedly due to ‘severe physical assault by morality police officers’

A teenage girl is said to be in a coma in Iran after she was allegedly assaulted by the country’s morality police, a little over a year after the death of 22-year-old Mahsa Amini sparked nationwide protests.

Armita Garawand, 16, was left badly injured after she was confronted by female morality police officers at a metro station in Tehran, according to a human rights group.

The teenager has been in a coma since Sunday due to “severe physical assault by the morality police officers”, Hengaw Organization for Human Rights said on its website.

Iranian authorities rejected the allegations of assault. They said the girl “fainted” due to low blood pressure.

Hengaw said Ms Garawand “was physically attacked by authorities in the Shohada station at Tehran metro for what they perceived as non-compliance with the compulsory hijab. As a result, she sustained severe injuries and was transported to the hospital.”

The group said she was being treated under tight security at a hospital in Tehran and that “there are currently no visits allowed for the victim, not even from her family”.

A photo purportedly of Ms Garawand was published by Hengaw after the assault. It showed a woman in a hospital bed, with her head and neck heavily bandaged, and attached to a feeding tube. The group said Ms Garawand’s family gave an interview to Iranian state media “in the presence of high-ranking security officers” and “under considerable pressure”.

Last September, Amini died in police custody three days after she was detained for allegedly not fully complying with strict rules on wearing the hijab. Iranian officials said she suffered a heart attack in her cell, a claim that has been heavily disputed.

Amini’s death triggered a nationwide uprising that lasted months and she became a symbol for the modern Iranian protest movement.