Shahin Ahmadi, mother of Armita Garavand, who has been in a coma after a clash with the security forces in the Tehran metro over hijab, was apprehended by the security forces, according to Hengaw Organization for Human Rights.
Authorities have denied the allegations by rights groups that Geravand went into a coma on Sunday.
An Iranian teenaged girl is in critical condition in hospital, two prominent rights activists told Reuters on Wednesday, after falling into a coma following what they said was a confrontation with agents in the Tehran metro for violating the hijab law.
The United States, Britain, and Germany express "insincere concern" over Iranian women and girls, Iran's Foreign Ministry spokesperson Nasser Kanaani said on the X social media platform on Thursday.
AFP reported from IRNA that the girl fainted due to low blood pressure.
The head of the Tehran Metro Operating Company, Masoud Dorosti, told IRNA the CCTV footage showed no sign of verbal or physical conflict between passengers or company employees.
Kanaani said: "Instead of interventionist and biased remarks and expressing insincere concern over Iranian women and girls, you’d better be concerned about US, German, and UK healthcare personnel, patients and tackle their situation."
Germany's Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock had said on X: "Once again a young woman in Iran is fighting for her life. Just because she showed her hair in the subway. It is unbearable."
"Shocked and concerned about reports that Iran's so-called morality police have assaulted 16-year-old Armita Geravand," US Deputy Special Envoy for Iran Abram Paley said. "We continue to stand with the brave people of Iran and work with the world to hold the regime accountable for its abuses."
Iran Human Rights, a Norway-based NGO, published a statement Thursday about the case. It read, “Since the Islamic Republic has a long history of distorting facts and concealing evidence of their crimes, an independent international investigation is crucial to establish the details.”
“The Islamic Republic continues its harassment and repression of women under the guise of fighting mandatory hijab violations,” said Mahmood Amiry-Moghaddam, director of Iran Human Rights.
A resident of Tehran, Garawand hails from the city of Kermanshah in Iran’s Kurdish-populated west, Hengaw said.
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.
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.
Her parents gave an interview to Iranian state media at the hospital “under considerable pressure” and “in the presence of high-ranking security officers,” it added.
