TEHRAN, Oct 28, 2023 (BSS/AFP) - Iranian teenager Armita Garawand died on
Saturday a month after falling into a coma following a disputed incident on
Tehran's metro, media in the Islamic republic said.

"Armita Garawand, a student in Tehran, died an hour ago after intensive
medical treatment and 28 days of hospitalisation in intensive care," reported
the Borna news agency affiliated with the youth ministry.

The 16-year-old ethnic Kurd was hospitalised in Tehran after she fell
unconscious on the metro.

Her case was first reported on October 3 by Kurdish-focused rights group
Hengaw, which said she had been critically wounded during an incident on the
underground train network.

Authorities say she suffered a sudden drop in blood pressure and denied that
any "physical or verbal altercations" had taken place between her and other
passengers.

But rights groups have said the teen was critically wounded during an alleged
assault by members of Iran's morality police.

It came just over a year after the death of Mahsa Amini, also a young Iranian
Kurd, following her arrest by the morality police for allegedly breaching
Iran's strict dress code for women in an incident that sparked mass protests
across the Islamic republic.

On Saturday, Iran's Tasnim news agency quoted doctors as saying that Garawand
had "suffered a fall resulting in brain damage followed by continued
convulsions, a decline in brain oxygen and a cerebral oedema after a sudden
drop in blood pressure".