After attending the funeral of Armita Geravand, the teenage girl who died after being injured in an alleged encounter with police on Tehran's metro, Iranian authorities arrested a leading human rights lawyer Nasrin Sotoudeh on Sunday.
Reportedly, Sotoudeh was detained on a charge of violating Iran's mandatory headscarf or hijab law. Multiple arrests were made by the authorities at the funeral of Geravand as well.
Sotoudeh, 60, is known for defending activists, opposition politicians and women in Iran. She has been fighting for the women’s rights in Iran as well.
While speaking about Geravand’s death, Sotoudeh had said it was “another state murder” on Saturday.
This is not the first time Sotoudeh is getting arrested. She was arrested in 2018 on charges of collusion and propaganda against Iran's rulers and eventually was sentenced to 38 years in prison and 148 lashes, reported The Associated Press. However, she was released in 2020 without announcing the grounds on which the decision was taken.
"She was arrested during the funeral Gerawand along with others...She was violently beaten," Reza Khandan, Sotoudeh's husband told AFP.
She was awarded the European parliament’s 2012 Sakharov prize for her human rights work.
Iranian state media had said Geravand, who fell into a coma after alleged encounter with the police officers, was ‘brain dead’. The incident took place on October 1. Activists had accused the morality police of assaulting her for not wearing a hijab. However, Iran had denied reports of Geravand being hurt after the confrontation. Geravand had collapsed after boarding the metro train.
The footage released by the authorities show Geravand boarding from Shohada station and later she being carried out of the train by several other passengers. The visuals from inside the train was not released by the authorities.