A young Iranian woman is in a coma fighting for her life after being arrested by the Islamic Republic’s morality police in Tehran, activists said on Thursday.
The woman, known as Mahsa Amini, 22, was visiting the Iranian capital with her family when she was arrested by the special police force, which enforces strict dress codes for women, including the mandatory headscarf.
Her brother Kiaresh told news website Iran Wire that an ambulance pulled up to take her to the hospital while he was waiting outside the police station for her release.
He was told that she had had a heart attack and a brain spasm and was now in a coma.
“It was only two hours from her arrest to the time she was admitted to the hospital,” he said.
He vowed to file criminal charges, adding: “I have nothing to lose.
A statement from Tehran police confirmed that she had been arrested along with other women for “explaining and lecturing” on the dress code.
“She suddenly suffered a heart problem while in the company of other people being guided (and) … was immediately taken to the hospital in cooperation with police and emergency services.”
It is not yet clear what happened between her arrival at the police station and her departure to the hospital.
– ‘Sick’ –
The social media channel 1500tasvir, which chronicles human rights abuses by Iranian police, posted a picture of her in the hospital with a tube in her mouth and said she was in a coma.
“Nauseating,” Iranian-British actress and activist Nazanin Boniadi wrote on Twitter. “How many innocent young lives must be brutally robbed before we all rise up?”
“The situation of Mahsa Amini is an example of a premeditated crime,” Iranian freedom of expression activist Hossein Ronaghi wrote on social media.
“The systematic repression of Iranian women under the pretext of enforcing hijab by senior patrol and police is a crime.”
The incident comes as controversy mounts – both inside and outside Iran – over the behavior of the Gasht-e Ershad (lead patrol), which monitors and enforces Iran’s dress code.
Islamic hijab has been mandatory for women in Iran since shortly after the 1979 Islamic revolution that ousted the Shah.
Some women, encouraged by US-based activist Masih Alinejad, have attempted to protest the rule by removing their hijab in public.
In mid-July, a young Iranian woman, Sepideh Rashno, disappeared in mid-July after getting into an argument on a Tehran bus with another woman, who accused her of taking off her headscarf.
She was held by the Revolutionary Guards and appeared on television in what activists said was a forced confession.
She was released on bail at the end of August after about a month and a half in detention.
