Arrests Made during Funeral of Iranian Teen Who Died after Hijab Assault

Armita Garavand, a 16-year-old Iranian girl who was fatally assaulted at a Tehran metro station nearly a month ago for not wearing a headscarf, was buried amid tight security on October 29.

The number of plainclothes officers and police forces deployed at Tehran’s Behesht-e Zahra cemetery outnumbered the mourners, the Hengaw human rights website reported. 

Two of Armita’s relatives and several women were detained by security forces at the cemetery. 

Civil rights activist Reza Khandan told IranWire that his wife, prominent human rights lawyer Nasrin Sotoudeh, was among those taken into custody.

Armita had been in a coma in Tehran’s Fajr Military Hospital since October 1, when she lost consciousness on the city’s metro. She died on October 28. 

The authorities said the teenager had fallen and injured her head after suffering a sudden drop in blood pressure, but reports suggest that she was physically assaulted by a hijab enforcement officer.

Footage from inside the train has not been released, despite evidence suggesting that the train car had CCTV cameras