diplomacy
Iranian woman in a coma: Baerbock criticizes the moral police
German Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock (Alliance 90/Greens) commented on the recent actions of the Iranian moral police. photo
© Friedemann Kohler/dpa
The death of Jina Mahsa Amini caused outrage. About a year later, the next incident with the Iranian moral police made waves. Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock is shocked.
Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock has sharply criticized an alleged confrontation between the moral police in Iran and a 16-year-old.
“A young woman in Iran is fighting for her life again. Simply because she showed her hair in the subway,” Baerbock wrote on the online platform X (formerly Twitter) and called the situation “unbearable.” According to human rights organizations, 16-year-old Armita Garawand is said to be in a coma after an incident with the country’s notorious moral watchdogs.
Relations between Germany and Iran have been tense for some time. After the nationwide wave of protests in autumn 2022, Baerbock openly criticized the violent actions of the Iranian state against the demonstrators. In response, Iranian politicians accused the Federal Republic of interfering in the internal affairs of the Islamic Republic.
What happened?
Garawand was taken to hospital on Sunday after fainting on the subway, according to media reports. State media spoke of an accident. It was said that the girl lost her balance due to a drop in blood pressure and then hit her head against the edge of the train. Her friends then carried her out of the subway car and called the emergency services.
Video footage from the metro station published by the state news agency Irna is said to show the incident. You can see a group of women wearing headscarves entering a subway car and just a few seconds later carrying an unconscious person out again. Garawand’s parents also spoke of an accident in an interview published by Irna.
Family and journalist under pressure
According to the Norway-based human rights organization Hengaw, the interview took place under pressure. The hospital where Garawand is located is under strict security, Hengaw reports, citing internal sources. Security forces also confiscated the phones of Garawand’s relatives. Baerbock wrote on
A journalist was temporarily arrested on the way to the hospital, the daily newspaper “Sharg” reported. She wanted to inquire about the young people’s health.
Users wrote on social media that they were reminded of the case of the Iranian Kurdish woman Jina Mahsa Amini. The 22-year-old fell into a coma and subsequently died after being arrested by moral police for allegedly violating Islamic dress codes.
More reactions
FDP General Secretary Bijan Djir-Sarai called in the Funke media group’s newspapers to use all options under international law to take action against Tehran. The aim must be to sustainably weaken the leadership there, which includes classifying the Iranian Revolutionary Guard as a terrorist organization by the EU.
In the Funke newspapers, Amnesty International called for proceedings to be initiated at international level against those responsible for serious human rights violations in Iran – so that “such crimes” do not just result in verbal condemnation, but rather lead to effective prosecution.