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Armita Garavand, the 17-year-old girl fatally injured in an alleged confrontation with Iran’s morality police over a head-scarf violation, was buried amid tight security in Tehran on October 29.
Unconfirmed reports say several people, including two of Garavand’s relatives, were arrested during the ceremony at the Behesht-e Zahra cemetery in southern Tehran.
Civil rights activist Reza Khandan told RFE/RL’s Radio Farda that his wife, prominent human rights lawyer Nasrin Sotoudeh, was beaten and detained at the funeral.
“A number of participants were arrested and beaten up. Nasrin was among them,” Khandan said by phone from Tehran.
RFE/RL’s Radio Farda published amateur footage from Garavand’s funeral:
He added that a number of those detained had been released, although others, including Sotoudeh, remained in detention. He said he hasn’t been able to contact her.
Iran’s semiofficial Fars news agency later confirmed that Sotoudeh had been detained, charged with violating the conservative Islamic nation’s head-scarf law.
Sotoudeh has previously been arrested and jailed after representing opposition activists, including women prosecuted for removing their mandatory headscarves.
Video clips published on social media showed a large crowds of people — both men and women — attending the burial ceremony.
Iran’s state media had reported Garavand’s death on October 28, nearly a month after she fell and went into a coma in the Tehran subway.
Garavand was reportedly confronted by the morality police in the subway at the start of October for failing to wear a hijab.
The news of Garavand’s death came just over a year after the death of Mahsa Amini following her arrest by Iran’s morality police for an alleged head-scarf violation sparked nationwide protests and international condemnation.
A relative told Radio Farda that “security agents” had told the family they would be given Garavand’s body under the condition that the burial be held in Tehran and not in their native village in the western province of Kermanshah.
“We live in Tehran, but we don’t bury our dead [here]. We hope to receive Armita’s body,” the family member had said.
Shortly after the subway incident, authorities isolated Garavand family members and attempted to prevent journalists from reaching them. Security measures were still being enforced as of October 28, fueling speculation that authorities were worried about renewed protests in the country.
Rights groups and journalists say Garavand and two of her friends were confronted on October 1 by police officers for not wearing the mandatory hijab as they tried to enter a Tehran subway station.
One of the friends has said the officers physically assaulted Garavand, who later fell unconscious after entering a subway carriage. Officials have said Garavand suffered a sudden drop in blood pressure, fainted, and fell to the floor, hitting her head.
A source at Fajr Hospital, who spoke to Radio Farda on condition of anonymity due to security reasons, said shortly after the incident that Garavand suffered internal bleeding in the brain.
“Unfortunately, she went into a coma for some time after suffering from brain damage. She died a few minutes ago,” the official government news agency IRNA said on October 28.
Garavand’s condition triggered concerns in the West and among international rights groups after a purported video of the incident circulated on social media. The video shows Garavand entering the subway car, but it does not show what exactly transpired in the seconds before her body is shown being carried back out of it.
Amnesty International has issued a statement saying authorities should allow an independent international delegation, including UN experts, to investigate the circumstances leading up to Garavand’s hospitalization. Tehran has left the request unanswered.
The United States on October 29 said it was “deeply saddened” by the death of Garavand after she was “beaten by Iran’s morality police for not wearing a hijab in public.”
“Iran’s state-sponsored violence against its own people is appalling and underscores the fragility of the regime,” White House national-security adviser Jake Sullivan wrote on social media.
Garavand’s case, and suggestions of a cover-up by the authorities, has drawn parallels with the events leading up to the death of 22-year-old Amini last year.
Amini’s death soon after she was arrested for allegedly violating Iran’s hijab law triggered the greatest threat to the Islamic republic’s leadership since the 1979 revolution.
State media has shown Garavand’s parents speaking of various potential causes for their daughter’s fall and injury.
It is not clear if the statements were made under duress, but the Hengaw human rights group, which first reported the incident, said on October 5 that Garavand’s mother, Shahin Ahmadi, had been detained temporarily by Iranian government security forces.
Earlier this month, Amini and the Women, Life, Freedom movement in Iran that was triggered by her death were awarded this year’s Sakharov Prize, the European Parliament’s top rights award, the second honor bestowed upon Iranian women this month for their sometimes deadly struggle for human rights after activist Narges Mohammadi won the Nobel Peace Prize.
With reporting by dpa
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