social mediaA mother-of-two was left a paraplegic after being shot by Iranian police for allegedly violating the country’s strict hijab rules, a source told the BBC.
“She is paralyzed from the waist down and doctors say it will be several months before they know whether she will become a permanent paraplegic.”
Arezoo Badri, 31, was driving home with her sister in the northern city of Noor on July 22 when police tried to pull her over and confiscate her car.
The driver failed to obey orders to stop, prompting police to open fire, the police commander in the city of Noor told Iran’s state-run news agency, without naming Ms Badri.
After the incident, Iranian police announced a ban Regarding women violating state-mandated dress codes.
New measures include the use of CCTV to identify female drivers whose heads are not covered, and the confiscation of vehicles found to be carrying female passengers with their hair uncovered.
it follows Long-running public outcry over law following Mahesa Amini’s death In 2022, she was detained by Iran’s moral police on suspicion of “improper” wearing of the headscarf.
It was unclear whether Ms. Badri was wearing a hijab when she was stopped by police, but a confiscation notice affixed to her car indicated she was suspected of multiple violations of the hijab law.
BBC sources said police first fired at the car’s tires and then aimed directly at her from the driver’s side.
“The bullet entered her lungs and severely damaged her spinal cord.”
Nour police chief Colonel Ahmed Amini said Iranian law allows the use of guns.
Ms Badri was initially taken to a hospital in Noor before being transferred to a hospital in the provincial capital Surrey for lung surgery. A week later, she was taken to Tehran, the capital of Iran.
Sources said the bullet was not removed until 10 days later.
social mediaPolice and BBC sources both said Ms Badri’s car windows had been tinted.
Ms. Badri is currently staying in the intensive care unit of Tehran’s police-owned Vali-e-Asr hospital under tight security.
Sources said her family were only allowed brief visits, during which time their phones were confiscated. Authorities have banned tourists from taking photos or videos of Ms Badri – although some have emerged.
The strict safety measures put in place while Ms Badri was hospitalized were reminiscent of those taken by 17-year-old Armita Geravand. He died in October after being in a coma for 28 days. after allegedly getting into an argument with moral police at a metro station in Tehran’s Fajr Hospital.
Human rights activists said she was attacked for not wearing a headscarf, a charge the Iranian government denies.
Since the Islamic Revolution in 1979, Iran has legally required women to wear headscarves.
Incidents involving moral police charged with enforcing the law continue to be reported, while the Women, Lives, Freedom movement sparked by Ms Amini’s death continues.
Iranian women have previously told the BBC they were willing to defy the rule despite the increased risk of punishment.
More recently, CCTV footage showed a 14-year-old girl being violently attacked by hooded law enforcement officers in Tehran, sparking widespread outrage.
Nafas Haji Sharif’s mother told Iran’s Ensaf News that she found her daughter at the Morality Police Station with “a bruised face, swollen lips, bruised neck and torn clothes.”
