A teenage Iranian girl, who fell into a coma earlier this month following an alleged encounter with officers over violating the country’s hijab law, is said to be “brain dead”, Iranian state media reported on Sunday.
Right groups such as Kurdish-Iranian Hengaw were the first to make Armita Geravand’s hospitalisation public, publishing photos of the 16-year-old girl on social media that showed her unconscious with a respiratory tube and bandage over her head, visibly on life support. Reuters could not verify the pictures.
“Follow-ups on the latest health condition of Geravand indicate that her condition of being brain dead seems certain despite the efforts of the medical staff,” state media reported.
There have been concerns by rights advocates that Geravand might face the same fate as Mahsa Amini, whose death in the custody of morality police last year sparked months of nationwide anti-government protests that posed one of the boldest challenges to Iran’s clerical rulers.
