The occurrence of an unidentified injury to a 16-year-old girl from Iran, who was not wearing a headscarf while using the Metro in Tehran, has caused outrage.

DUBAI, United Arab Emirates — A mysterious injury suffered by a 16-year-old girl who boarded a Metro train in Iran’s capital without a headscarf has reignited anger just after the one-year anniversary of the death of Mahsa Amini and the nationwide protests it sparked.

It is unclear what occurred immediately after Armita Geravand boarded the train on Sunday. According to a friend who spoke to Iranian state television, she may have struck her head on the platform. However, the footage shown by the broadcaster, which was captured from outside the train, is obstructed by a bystander. Shortly after, her lifeless body is seen being carried away.

Geravand’s mother and father appeared in state media footage saying a blood pressure issue, a fall or perhaps both contributed to their daughter’s injury.

Activists from other countries claim that Geravand might have been forcibly pushed or assaulted due to her decision not to wear the hijab. They are calling for an impartial inquiry to be conducted by the United Nations’ fact-finding mission in Iran. They point out the Iranian government’s tendency to exert pressure on victims’ families and the frequent airing of coerced confessions on state television.

Geravand’s injury also comes as Iran has put its morality police – whom activists implicate in Amini’s death over her alleged loose hijab – back on the street, and as lawmakers push to enforce even stricter penalties for those flouting the required head covering.

Hadi Ghaemi, the executive director of the Center for Human Rights in Iran based in New York, expressed that girls face violence in public, and subsequently, their families feel obligated to defend the government accountable for such acts of violence.

For observant Muslim women, the head covering is a sign of piety before God and modesty in front of men outside their families. In Iran, the hijab – and the all-encompassing black chador worn by some – has long been a political symbol as well, particularly after becoming mandatory in the years following the 1979 Islamic Revolution. Iran and neighboring Taliban-ruled Afghanistan are the only countries where the hijab remains mandatory for women.

Amini passed away in a hospital on September 16, 2022, following her detainment by Iranian morality police for alleged improper hijab wearing. The belief that she was subjected to physical abuse during her arrest sparked widespread demonstrations, marking the most significant opposition to Iran’s theocratic regime since the revolution.

After the decline of those extensive demonstrations, numerous women in Tehran are now visible without wearing the hijab as a form of resistance against the legal requirement.

Geravand suffered her injury Sunday morning at the Meydan-E Shohada, or Martyrs’ Square, Metro station in southern Tehran. Rumors about how she suffered the injury quickly circulated.

On Tuesday, the Hengaw Organization for Human Rights, an organization that documents human rights violations in the western Kurdish region of Iran, released a photograph depicting Geravand at the hospital. In the image, her head is covered in bandages as she remains unconscious.

Hengaw claimed that Geravand was physically assaulted by authorities at Tehran Metro’s Shohada station due to their perceived noncompliance with the mandatory hijab. According to reports received by Hengaw, Geravand suffered serious injuries and was taken to the hospital for treatment.

The Associated Press has not been able to confirm the exact circumstances of what caused Geravand’s injuries. Hengaw claimed Thursday that security forces arrested Geravand’s mother, Shahin Ahmadi. Authorities in Tehran did not immediately acknowledge the claim, though semiofficial news agencies denied it.

On Wednesday, Iranian state TV broadcasted most of the surveillance camera footage showing Geravand’s 16-minute presence at the Metro station before she got injured. She arrived at 6:52 a.m. and descended on an escalator. The only missing part, lasting around one and a half minutes, happens before she reaches the turnstile gate where she swipes her Metro card. The footage captures her buying a snack and subsequently proceeding to the platform where she waits for the train.

In the mute footage, Geravand, whom activists describe as a taekwondo athlete, appears calm and healthy. An AP frame-by-frame analysis of the footage showed no signs of the aired video being manipulated.

At 7:08 a.m., Geravand boards the No. 134 train car, which is located at the back of the train and is possibly designated for women only. As she enters, a new conductor approaches, obstructing the view of the door she passes through. Within four seconds, a woman emerges from the train in reverse, revealing a small portion of Geravand’s head as she remains on the floor inside. Subsequently, women extract Geravand’s unconscious body and seek assistance while the train departs.

However, the report by Iranian state TV did not provide any footage from within the train or offer an explanation for its absence. The Tehran Metro’s train cars typically have several CCTV cameras that can be monitored by security staff.

Iran Human Rights, a group based in Oslo, stated that not publishing the footage further raises suspicions regarding the official account.

Geravand was transported by emergency medical technicians to Fajr Hospital, located at an Iranian air force base and considered one of the nearest medical facilities to the station. Following her injury, a journalist from Shargh newspaper who visited the hospital has been detained by security forces, as reported by the Committee to Protect Journalists based in New York. Shargh, a reformist newspaper, played a significant role in reporting on Amini’s death as well.

Already, Geravand’s injury has drawn international attention, something Iran’s government has sought to dismiss. German Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock wrote online: “Once again a young woman in #Iran is fighting for her life. Just because she showed her hair on the subway. It’s unbearable.”

Abram Paley, the U.S. Deputy Special Envoy for Iran, expressed his shock and concern regarding the reports of an assault on a 16-year-old girl named Armita Geravand by Iran’s morality police.

Iranian authorities likely worry about this incident escalating into popular anger like in Amini’s case. Women continue to ignore the hijab law despite the growing crackdown. That includes what Shargh described as Tehran’s city government hiring of some 400 people as “hijab guards” to give verbal warnings, prevent uncovered women from entering subway cars and hand them over to police.