Armita Garavand, a 17-year-old Iranian girl, fell into a coma in Tehran Metro on October 1, 2023. This incident occurred after an alleged altercation with officers responsible for enforcing mandatory hijab. She was then hospitalized in the intensive care unit of an army hospital and was declared brain dead on October 22, 2023, and officially died on October 28, 2023.
The circumstances surrounding Armita's death attracted significant international attention and were widely compared to the death of Mahsa Amini, another young woman who died in the custody of the morality police and sparked widespread protests in Iran. The German Foreign Minister described Armita's case as “unbearable.”
Armita was an eleventh-grade student at an art high school in Tehran and a professional taekwondo athlete. She had started this sport professionally in 2013 and held a “Dan 3” belt. Armita was a member of the “Anahid Razm” taekwondo team in Tehran and had a “Poom 1” belt. In addition to her athletic activities, Armita had a great interest in South Korean culture and was a fan of the Korean music group BTS. She had even painted the face of Jimin, one of the group members, and imitated the clothing and hair styles of Jimin and Jungkook.
Her family was originally from the Tarhan district in Kuhdasht County, Lorestan Province. On the day of the incident, Armita entered the Tehran Metro with two of her friends. Shortly thereafter, her friends pulled her unconscious from the train, requested medical assistance, and she was hospitalized with traumatic brain injury.
According to a witness and the Norway-based human rights group Hengaw, Armita was confronted by morality police officers for not observing the hijab. This confrontation allegedly escalated into a physical altercation during which she was attacked, fell, and hit her head on the ground, leading to her loss of consciousness. However, Iranian authorities denied any physical altercation, claiming she fainted due to a drop in blood pressure. While CCTV footage from the metro station shows Armita entering the train without a headscarf and then being brought out unconscious by her friends, no footage from inside the train car was released by Iranian news agencies. Amnesty International’s Evidence Lab analysis claimed that the released video was sped up in several sections and contained a significant 3-minute and 16-second gap.
Following the incident, Armita’s mother and a journalist who interviewed her were arrested. The intensive care unit of the hospital where Armita was admitted was guarded by security forces. The incident led to international criticism and calls for independent investigations, which the Iranian government called “interventionist.”