Exclusive: Hospitalised Young Woman Suffered from Head Injuries

A secondary school pupil has been hospitalised with a head injury after being pushed by hijab enforcement officers in the Tehran underground, IranWire reports. 

The girl was taken to Fajr Air Force Hospital in the Iranian capital with a “head injury,” according to an informed source who spoke to IranWire.

Masoud Dorosti, CEO of the Tehran Metro Operation Company, denied any involvement in the incident during an interview with the official IRNA news agency.

He claimed that the girl had “no verbal or physical altercation with passengers or metro personnel.”

In CCTV footage released by IRNA showing the incident, three schoolgirls, who are not wearing headscarves, can be seen entering a train. Moments later a group of passengers assists an apparently unconscious girl, pulling her out to the platform.

No footage from potential surveillance cameras from inside the train has so far been made available.

Reports from Tehran suggest the presence of heightened security measures around the Fajr Hospital tonight, including a substantial deployment of security personnel in the area.

Maryam Lotfi, a reporter for Shargh newspaper who went to the hospital to report on the girl’s condition, was arrested by government forces.

Iran’s judicial and security agencies have not provided any official reasons for Lotfi’s arrest, but it is believed the purpose was to prevent the release of news about the injury to the girl. 

Reports emerged yesterday suggesting that the girl fainted after hitting her head on a metal surface. 

In recent months authorities have been enforcing mandatory hijab for women and girls particularly strictly in Tehran metro stations.

In August the online newspaper Faraz revealed that the capital’s municipality had hired 400 “hijab officers.”

According to the report, which was not denied by members of the Tehran City Council, the mission of these hijab enforcement personnel in the underground is to issue verbal warnings, prevent women without hijabs from entering and hand over non-compliant females to the police.