Armita Garavand, Another Victim of the Systematic Terror against Women in the Islamic Republic!
Unfortunately, Armita Garavand a 16-year-old girl, died after 28 days in coma in Fajr Military Hospital in Tehran. The brutal attack by the Islamic Republic's so-called ‘guardians of hijab’ is the prevailing assumption about the cause of her brain injury, which led to her death, especially since no footage of the incident was shown from inside the subway car. The sad news of her death was announced while her family was prevented from meeting their daughter and be with her for the past 28 days. Today, even after her death, the pressures continue by the repressive institutions of the regime forbidding the family to meet the media without the knowledge and permission of the security agents of the Islamic Republic of Iran.
Armita, like many girls of her generation, inspired by the "Woman, Life, Freedom" revolutionary movement had put aside the hijab (head scarf) and the mandatory covering in order to defend her most basic rights, the right to freely choose her dress and to oppose the institutionalized discrimination against women. She found a bitter end for her protest and civil disobedience. Armita will not see the sun that she was sure would rise again!
A year ago, the murder of Mahsa Amini by the government agents turned the hidden anger of many of our compatriots into a rebellion against the criminal regime of the Islamic Republic. As a result, the revolutionary movement "Women, Life, Freedom" was born, a movement which is still going on, despite witnessing hundreds of men and women, especially young people, being killed and thousands of others jailed. The fact is that Iran after Mahsa's murder, is no longer the Iran it was before. With their unrelenting struggle, the people have created an environment where the fear of the repression by the Islamic Republic no longer has the last word.
Armita, like Mahsa, Nika, Hadith, Minoo, Sarina, Hananeh, Aylar and many other young girls, became a victim of the religious authoritarian government.
While expressing our sympathy to the family of Armita Garavand and her friends and acquaintances and expressing our disgust towards the organized repression of women, we ask all freedom fighters progressive organizations and parties and human rights institutions around the world, to help end human right abuses in Iran with all the means that they have at their disposal.
We also seek the formation of an independent investigation committee with the participation of the UN special rapporteur to investigate the reality of the incident and we ask the international human rights organizations to use all their efforts against the repetition of such tragedies.
“Hamgami” Coalition for a Secular and Democratic Republic in Iran
29 October 2023
