Iran arrests human rights lawyer as she attended funeral of an Iranian girl

The authorities in the Islamic Republic of Iran arrested a leading human rights lawyer after she attended the funeral of an Iranian teen girl who died after being injured weeks ago in an incident on Tehran’s Metro.

Nasrin Sotoudeh – a human rights lawyer in Iran, who represented imprisoned Iranian opposition activists and politicians following the 2009 Iranian presidential elections – was arrested on Sunday.

What did the Iranian authorities say?

The Iranian authorities said that Nasrin Sotoudeh was detained because she violated Iran’s mandatory headscarf (hijab) law. The human rights lawyer was not wearing the hijab at the funeral of a teenage girl. 

While attending the funeral on Sunday morning, Nasrin Sotoudeh called the death of the Iranian teen “another state murder.”

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What happened to the Iranian girl?

Armita Geravand, an Iranian teen, entered the metro train on October 1. According to women’s rights activists, the Iranian teen was assaulted by the country’s morality police over the violation of the country’s hijab law. She was reportedly pushed into a metro carriage by female morality police because she was not wearing a hijab. 

According to women’s rights activists, Armita Geravand was “assaulted” by morality police and fell into a coma. Iranian teen Armita Geravand was ‘brain dead’ after an assault by police on the Tehran metro.

Her friend told Iranian state television that Armita Geravand hit her head on Tehran station’s platform. Iranian authorities said that she was hospitalized due to an injury caused by low blood pressure. Her parents also appeared in front of the media, saying a blood pressure issue. 

However, human rights activists suspect that she may have been pushed or attacked by the morality police for not wearing the hijab. 

This incident came a year after the Mahsa Amini case. A 22 year old Iranian-Kurdish woman, Mahsa Amini, died in the custody of the Iranian police on September 16 2022. She was arrested by the country’s morality police on September 13 2022 because she was wearing a loose hijab. 

Her death sparked huge protests in the Islamic Republic of Iran. Oscar-winning actors also chopped off their hair in solidarity with Iranian protesters. Marion Cotillard, Juliette Binoche, as well as other French screen and music stars, chopped off their hair, saying that Iranian women needed support from the world.