What Happened to 16-year-old Armita Geravand?
by Farzad Seifikaran — 4October2023
Informed sources have told Zamaneh that Armita Geravand, the 16-year-old student who “lost consciousness” in the metro at Shohada Station in Tehran and was transferred to the Air Force’s Fajr Hospital Sunday morning is still in a “coma.”
According to an informed source, the ICU environment of Fajr Hospital in Tehran is highly secure, with many “full-time security forces” present.
“Today, even the ICU visits, located on the first floor, were cancelled, and everyone was kept on the ground floor.”
Based on the information received by Zamaneh, Armita Geravand was born in February 2007.
There is still not much information about why Armita Geravand went into a “coma,” but an informed source previously told Zamaneh that she and two of her friends, who were not veiled, “fought with officers who were warning about hijab, and they pushed Armita, and her head hit a metal,” and then emphasises that “the drop in her blood pressure was due to internal skull bleeding.” Zamaneh is currently unable to independently verify this information.
Another source who spoke to Zamaneh said that Maryam Lotfi, a social service journalist for the Shargh newspaper, “was arrested by security forces while talking to Armita Geravand’s mother.”
Maryam Lotfi went to Fajr Hospital on Tuesday, October 2nd for reporting after ambiguous news was released about Armita Geravand’s condition, but was detained for several hours and then released.
The news of Armita Geravand’s “unconsciousness” was first published on Sunday night, October 1st, and the next day, the state-run IRNA news agency interviewed Masoud Dorosti, the CEO of Tehran Metro Operations, who said that the 16-year-old girl lost her balance due to “low blood pressure and fell to the ground.”
IRNA also released CCTV footage of the moment Armita and her friends, who were not veiled, entered, and moments after boarding the metro train, one of them falls to the ground and is then transferred to the platform with the help of friends and another passenger.
The CEO of Tehran Metro emphasised that all “CCTV cameras have been reviewed, and no conflict has been recorded or captured.”
So far, CCTV footage of the moment these three students entered Shohada Metro station and before boarding the train has not been released.
Yesterday, the IRNA news agency brought Armita Geravand’s mother and father in front of the camera, who appeared “anxious” and hesitantly spoke of their daughter’s “low blood pressure” and “her head hitting the edge of the train.”
In the interview on October 3rd, the father and mother of the 16-year-old student, who is now in a coma, said they “have seen the metro CCTV footage and confirm that the accident two days ago was an accident.” However, the video of this conversation seems to be edited, and the public believes it was recorded under pressure.
Despite Zamaneh’s emphasis on the security environment and the presence of security forces at Fajr Hospital in Tehran, it is unclear under what circumstances this conversation took place.
IRNA did not mention Armita Geravand and her parents in this report and introduced her as the “hospitalised student.”
