A mother of two who was left paralyzed after an encounter with Iranian police regarding the country’s strict hijab rules.
The woman, Arezoo Badri, was shot by the police while driving home with her sister.
She is now paralyzed from the waist down, and doctors are working to determine the extent of her injuries.
The police attempted to stop her car, and when she didn’t comply, they resorted to shooting, as reported by the police commander in Noor.
The situation occurred following the Iranian police’s crackdown on women who were not adhering to the country’s mandatory dress code.
The new enforcement measures involved using CCTV to identify female drivers who were not wearing head coverings and seizing vehicles with female passengers not following the dress code.
This action came after widespread public outrage following the tragic death of Mahsa Amini in 2022, who died while in custody for allegedly not wearing her hijab properly.
According to a BBC source, the police officer fired at the car’s tire before shooting directly at Badri, causing severe injuries to her lung and spinal cord.
After the incident, Badri was initially treated at a hospital in Noor before being transferred to a hospital in Sari for lung surgery.
Subsequently, she was moved to Tehran, the capital of Iran. The bullet remained in her body for 10 days before it was finally removed during medical treatment.
Badri is presently in the ICU at Vali-e-Asr Hospital in Tehran, which is owned by the police, and is under strict security measures.
Her family is only allowed short visits, during which their phones are taken away. Visitors are not permitted to take photos or videos of Badri, although some have surfaced despite the restrictions.
The heightened security around Badri’s hospitalization is reminiscent of the case of Armita Geravand, a 17-year-old who tragically passed away after spending 28 days in a coma at Fajr Hospital in Tehran.
She was allegedly involved in an altercation with the morality police at a subway station.
Human rights activists claim she was attacked for not wearing a hijab, which the Iranian government has denied.
Since the Islamic revolution in 1979, Iranian women have been mandated by law to wear a hijab. Violations can lead to fines and imprisonment.
Despite the risks, incidents involving the morality police enforcing the hijab law persist, fueled by the ongoing Women, Life, Freedom movement following Amini’s death.
Some Iranian women have expressed to the BBC their willingness to defy the rule, despite the potential consequences.
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