Uncertainty Surrounds the Health Status of Armita Garavand; Guardian Reports from Two Eyewitnesses

Four days after the incident involving 16-year-old Armita Garavand in Tehran and with no news about her health status, the British newspaper "Guardian" published statements from two witnesses regarding the confrontation between a mandatory hijab enforcement officer and Armita. According to the report, as soon as Armita entered the subway car, a hijab officer began to argue with her because Armita, a 16-year-old girl, was not wearing a headscarf. One witness stated: "Shortly after Armita entered the subway car, a hijab officer wearing a chador shouted at her, asking why she had not covered her hair." The witness reported that Armita responded, "Am I asking you to take off your headscarf? Why are you asking me to put one on?" The argument escalated into violence, and the officer physically attacked Armita, pushing her hard. Another witness said that Armita was still conscious when she fell to the ground. Both witnesses reported seeing the same hijab officer waiting behind the ambulance that took Armita to the hospital. One of the witnesses said, "Armita's friends and family are under pressure" and added, "I do not expect them to reveal the truth after what happened to Mahsa's family." Government media in the past few days have attributed Armita Garavand's injuries and her transfer to the hospital to "low blood pressure" and have attempted to promote this narrative as the dominant one. Hamed Ayenehvand, a journalist, told VOA's news program that "government media deny the beating of Armita in the subway, but reports from the security atmosphere of the hospital where she is being treated indicate that the regime is trying to obscure the truth and prevent the dissemination of accurate news." He added: "In this case, we are witnessing a kind of news engineering related to the incident, and government media are trying to present a unified narrative to their audiences, but even within this unified narrative, there are numerous contradictions, including in the videos released from the subway cameras." According to him, given the Islamic Republic's secrecy in revealing the truth, "we are witnessing another crime" by the Islamic Republic, and without a doubt, considering the regime's poor track record in "obscuring the truth," public opinion both in Iran and globally will not accept the Islamic Republic's narratives in this and similar cases. Armita Garavand is an 11th-grade student at the state vocational school "Orovat al-Wathiq" in Tehran's district 11, who became unconscious on October 1 while returning from school at the "Shahada Tehran" subway station and was hospitalized at Fajr Hospital, affiliated with the Army Medical Sciences University. Some reports indicate that government subway officers known as "hijab enforcers," a "initiative" by the Tehran municipality, pushed this teenage girl for not wearing a hijab, causing her to fall and hit her head on a pole, leading to her coma. A knowledgeable source told VOA about the security pressures on Armita Garavand's family and friends. A banner in support of Armita Garavand in Karaj reads: "Armita Garavand is another Mahsa." A senior U.S. official reacted to the report of the "brutal attack" by the hijab officer on Armita Garavand, stating that they are horrified. The government is blocking independent media access to the hospital and Armita's family, attempting to control the flow of information regarding Armita Garavand. Fajr Hospital is reportedly under "siege by government forces"; Hengaw reported that Armita Garavand's mother has been arrested. The continuation of "repetitive scenarios" shows the government's efforts to control the flow of information about Armita Garavand. Armita is in a coma; Ahmad Garavand stated: "I have no information about her condition"; the government media claims: "It is the 'Mahsa 2' project."