Prominent Iranian human rights lawyer Nasrin Sotoudeh has been transferred to Qarchak prison and has started a hunger and medication strike after being severely beaten while she was being arrested.
Sotoudeh's husband, Reza Khandan, told RFERL’s Radio Farda that his wife embarked on the strike after she was detained during the funeral of 17-year-old Armita Garavand, who succumbed over the weekend to injuries suffered in an alleged confrontation with Iran's morality police in the Tehran subway over a head-scarf violation.
Along with Sotoudeh, several others, including Manzar Zarabi, a mother advocating for justice over the January 2020 downing of a Ukrainian plane by Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps, have been arrested. Reports indicate that Zarabi was subsequently released on October 30.
Khandan, in an interview with Radio Farda, said the charges against the women will remain undisclosed until after their official interrogation. He also noted that both Zarabi and Sotoudeh resisted wearing the mandatory hijab, or head scarf.
On October 29, news emerged of the arrest and assault of Sotoudeh and Zarabi. The Coordination Council of the Iranian Teachers' Unions also reported the detention of its board member, Masud Zeynalzadeh.
Images from Garavand's funeral depicted Sotoudeh without the obligatory hijab. On social media, she labeled Garavand's death as a "government murder."
Following Garavand's funeral, various cities, including Tehran, witnessed anti-government protests memorializing the teenager and condemning senior Islamic republic officials.
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Iranians Chant Anti-Government Slogans After Death Of Teen Allegedly Assaulted By Morality Police
Rights groups and journalists say Garavand and two of her friends were confronted on October 1 by police officers for not wearing the mandatory hijab as they tried to enter a Tehran metro station.
One of the friends has said the officers physically assaulted Garavand, who later fell unconscious after entering a metro carriage. Officials have said Garavand suffered a sudden drop in blood pressure, fainted, and fell to the floor, hitting her head.
A source at Fajr Hospital, who spoke to Radio Farda on condition of anonymity due to security reasons, said shortly after the incident that Garavand suffered internal bleeding in the brain. She succumbed to her injuries on October 28.
Following Garavand's funeral, Iranian authorities have intensified their crackdown on university protesters.
The "Voice of Al-Zahra Students" Telegram channel reported on October 29 that university officials have, in an unprecedented move, barred numerous students from entering the campus without clear justification. The channel emphasized that these actions were not in line with standard legal procedures.
In the wake of Garavand's death, various universities displayed wall writings and posters in her memory. However, many were swiftly removed. The Islamic Association of Sharif University of Technology highlighted that a board commemorating Garavand was taken down by security personnel.
Universities have historically been a battleground in the fight for social and political reforms in Iran.
During the Islamic Revolution of 1979, university students voiced their opposition to the clerical establishment and again during a 1999 protest against the closure of a reformist newspaper, resulting in a raid on a dormitory at Tehran University that left one student dead.
Protests against Mahsa Amini's death in September 2022 led to renewed pressure against students, specifically female students who refused to comply with the hijab law. The 22-year-old was in police custody for an alleged head-scarf violation when she died days after being detained.
Garavand's case, and suggestions of a cover-up by the authorities, has drawn parallels with the events leading up to the death of Amini.