PARIS, Oct 5, 2023 (BSS/AFP) - Western governments on Wednesday expressed
concern after an alleged assault by Iranian security forces had reportedly
left a teenager in coma, with Germany's top diplomat dubbing the incident
"intolerable".

A rights group also called for an international investigation into the
confrontation on the Tehran metro, just over a year after the death in
custody of Mahsa Amini who had been arrested for allegedly violating the
strict dress rules for women.

Armita Garawand, 16, was attacked on Sunday by female police officers,
according to the Kurdish-focused rights group Hengaw.

Iranian authorities have claimed she "fainted" due to low blood pressure,
denying any involvement of security forces.

Iranian authorities remain on high alert for any upsurge of social tension
around the September 16 anniversary of Amini's death, which last year
triggered months of unrest.

The nationwide protest movement had rattled Iran's clerical leadership before
dwindling in the face of a crackdown that according to activists has seen
hundreds killed and thousands arrested.

"A young woman in Iran is fighting for her life again. Just because she
showed her hair on the subway. It's intolerable," German Foreign Minister
Annalena Baerbock wrote on X, formerly Twitter.

Abram Paley, the acting US special envoy on Iran, posted on X that Washington
was "shocked and concerned about reports that Iran's so-called morality
police have assaulted" the teenager.

"We are following news of her condition. We continue to stand with the brave
people of Iran and work with the world to hold the regime accountable for its
abuses," Paley added.

The case has become the subject of intense discussion on social media, with a
purported video of the incident said by some to show Garawand, apparently
unveiled, being pushed into the metro by police agents and then an immobile
body pulled out.

- 'Repression' -

Norway-based NGO Iran Human Rights urged "an independent international
investigation... to establish the details" of the incident, accusing Tehran
of "a long history of distorting facts and concealing evidence of their
crimes".

"The Islamic republic continues its harassment and repression of women under
the guise of fighting mandatory hijab violations," said the group's director,
Mahmood Amiry-Moghaddam.

Hengaw said that Garawand was being treated under tight security at Tehran's
Fajr hospital.

It published a picture it said was of Garawand on her hospital bed, attached
to a feeding tube with her head and neck heavily bandaged.

Her parents gave an interview to Iranian state media at the hospital "under
considerable pressure" and "in the presence of high-ranking security
officers", Hengaw said.

Baerbock said the family should not have to "be in front of cameras, but have
the right to be at their daughter's bedside".

A resident of Tehran, Garawand hails from the city of Kermanshah in Iran's
Kurdish-populated west, Hengaw said.

Maryam Lotfi, a journalist from the Shargh daily newspaper, sought in the
aftermath of the incident to visit the hospital but was immediately detained,
Hengaw said, adding she was subsequently released.