An Iranian high school student died on Saturday, nearly a month after falling into a coma in disputed circumstances on the Tehran metro, media in the Islamic Republic said.
“Armita Garawand, a student in Tehran, died an hour ago after intensive medical treatment and 28 days of hospitalisation in intensive care,” reported the Borna news agency affiliated with the youth ministry.
The 17-year-old ethnic Kurd, who was declared “brain dead” a week ago, had been hospitalised at Fajr Hospital in Tehran since October 1 after she fell unconscious on the metro.
The circumstances of the incident have been disputed, with metro surveillance footage, which had been broadcast on state television, showing the unveiled teenager being evacuated after fainting in a carriage.
It came just over a year after the death of Mahsa Amini, also a young Iranian Kurd, following her arrest by morality police for allegedly breaching Iran’s strict dress code for women, in an incident that sparked mass protests across the Islamic republic.
During the months-long demonstrations, several hundred people were killed, including dozens of security forces, and thousands were arrested.
Seven men were also hanged over their links with the “riots”.
Since last year’s mass protests, women have been increasingly flouting the dress code, which requires head coverings and modest clothes.
But authorities have also sought to sharpen penalties on those seen to be violating the code, which has been in place since 1983, following Iran’s 1979 Islamic revolution.
