Iran lashed out on Thursday at "biased remarks" from Western countries after allegations that a teenage girl was critically wounded in a confrontation with the morality police on Tehran's subway, the AFP news agency reports.
The Kurdish-focused rights group Hengaw alleged earlier in the week that 16-year-old Armita Garawand had been left in a coma since Sunday after an assault by the metro's female police officers for "what they perceived as non-compliance with the compulsory 'hijab'".
Iran has denied Garawand was assaulted, with the official news agency IRNA saying the student had fainted due to "a drop in blood pressure" as she tried to board a train.
On Wednesday, diplomats from the United States and Germany reacted to the incident.
"Once again a young woman in Iran is fighting for her life. Just because she showed her hair on the subway," German Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock wrote on X, formerly Twitter.
Abram Paley, the acting US special envoy on Iran, posted on X that Washington was "shocked and concerned about reports that Iran's so-called morality police have assaulted" the teenager.
Iran's foreign ministry spokesman Nasser Kanani hit back on Thursday.
"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," he was quoted as having written on X.
Masood Dorosti, managing director of the Tehran subway system, denied there was "any verbal or physical conflict" between Garawand and "passengers or metro staff".
The incident involving Garawand took place a year after the death in custody of 22-year-old Mahsa Amini, who had been arrested for allegedly violating the strict dress rules for women.
Her death sparked several months of anti-government protests throughout Iran. The government crackdown on the demonstrations that followed Amini’s death resulted in hundreds of people being killed, including dozens of security personnel, and thousands arrested.
A year after Amini's death, Iranian authorities have launched a renewed push to crack down on women defying the Islamic Republic's strict dress rules for women.
In July, Iranian authorities announced a new campaign to force women to wear the Islamic headscarf. Following the announcement, morality police returned to the streets.
In April, Iranian authorities announced that cameras would be installed in public places and thoroughfares to identify and penalize unveiled women.
