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Armita Geravand was a 17-year-old Iranian girl who tragically fell into a coma on the Tehran Metro on October 1, 2023. This incident occurred after an alleged encounter with officers enforcing the mandatory Islamic hijab. She was subsequently held in the intensive care unit of an Army hospital, where she was declared brain dead on October 22, 2023, and officially declared dead on October 28, 2023.
The circumstances surrounding Armita's death drew significant international attention and were widely compared to the death of Mahsa Amini, another young woman whose death in morality police custody sparked widespread protests in Iran. The German foreign minister described Armita's case as "unbearable."
Armita was an 11th-grade student at an art high school in Tehran and a professional Taekwondo athlete, having started the sport professionally in 2013 with a "Dan 3" belt. She was a member of the "Anahid Razm" taekwondo team in Tehran, holding a "Pom One" belt. Beyond her athletic pursuits, Armita was deeply interested in Korean culture and was a fan of the Korean music group BTS, even painting the face of Jimin, one of the group's members, and imitating the style of Jimin and Jungkook.
Her family originated from the Tarhan District in the Kuhdasht County of Lorestan province. On the day of the incident, October 1, 2023, Armita was seen entering the Tehran Metro with two friends. Shortly after, her friends dragged her out of the train unconscious, called for medical help, and she was taken to a hospital, admitted with a traumatic brain injury.
According to a witness and the Norway-based human rights group Hengaw, Armita was confronted by morality police officers for not wearing a headscarf. The argument allegedly escalated into a physical altercation, during which she was assaulted, fell, and hit her head, leading to her loss of consciousness. Iranian authorities, however, denied any physical confrontation, claiming she fainted due to low blood pressure. While security camera footage from the metro station showed Armita entering the train without a headscarf and then being carried out unconscious by her friends, no footage from *inside* the train car was released by Iranian news agencies. An analysis by Amnesty International's evidence laboratory alleged that the released video was sped up in multiple sections and contained a significant gap of 3 minutes and 16 seconds.
In the aftermath, Armita's mother and a journalist who was interviewing her were arrested. The intensive care unit where Armita was hospitalized was reportedly guarded by security agents. The incident led to international criticism and calls for an independent investigation, which the Iranian government dismissed as "interventionist."