According to international media reports last week, Iranian police opened fire on a 31-year-old woman who tried to speed away from them near the Caspian Sea. The car was allegedly to be confiscated after the woman had previously shown her hair in public, violating Iranian law.
The police had ordered the confiscation of the car of 31-year-old Arezou Badri because she had been driving with her hair down.
On July 22, at around 11 p.m., Badri was reportedly traveling with her sister on a coastal road in the northern province of Mazandaran when she was shot, ABC News reports. Iran’s state-run IRNA news agency quoted police colonel Ahmad Amini as saying that police ordered a car with tinted windows to stop, but it did not. The IRNA report made no mention of a seizure order or modesty laws.
ICYMI: The family of Arezou Badri, a 31-year-old woman paralyzed after being shot by Iranian police on July 22 for allegedly violating the hijab requirement, is under intense pressure from the government to withdraw their complaint.https://t.co/WTuY9YAKIN pic.twitter.com/06S8NMAIIU
— Iran International English (@IranIntl_En) 15 August 2024
Human rights activists in Iran told the source that the officers first shot at the vehicle’s tires, but then fired into the vehicle itself as it continued to flee.
Badri, a mother of two, is reportedly unable to walk and remains confined to a bed in a police hospital in Tehran. Her lung was reportedly punctured and her spine injured in the incident. Iran International reported that Badri claimed she was now paralyzed and in critical condition.
Reports that Iranian police shot and paralyzed Arezou Badri while enforcing the veil must be thoroughly investigated and those responsible held accountable. This incident underscores the urgency of abolishing the veil and tackling the impunity crisis in Iran. pic.twitter.com/VeDSNmJTTt
— Amnesty International (@amnesty) 14 August 2024
Iran’s new president, Masoud Pezeshkian, is said to be more reformist than his rivals and has promised to relax the country’s modesty laws. But the anniversary of the murder of 22-year-old Mahsa Amini is approaching. Previous anniversaries have seen protests and more recently Iran has increased the number of executions.
The non-governmental organizations Iran Human Rights and Together Against Death Penalty published a report claiming that the number of executions increased by 43% in 2023, from 582 in 2022 to 834 in 2023. Iran International reported that over 300 people were executed in Iran in the first seven months of 2024 alone.
“They have elevated it to the most serious crime, so that the police can basically shoot to death,” Hadi Ghaemi, executive director of the New York-based Center for Human Rights in Iran, told ABC News. “This is really a war against women.”
Activists told the Associated Press that family members are banned from visiting Badri.
Other anonymous sources told Iran International that Badri’s sister was now being forced to make a false confession on camera.
“She has no feeling from the waist down and doctors have said that the next few months will show whether she is completely paralyzed,” said an anonymous activist in Iran.
The incident was met with widespread condemnation from human rights groups and Israeli officials.
Arezu Badri, a 31-year-old Iranian mother of two, was left paralyzed after being shot by police for not wearing a hijab while driving. @khamenei_ir‘s murderous dictatorship – oppression of citizens and enforcement of radical Islam. We must stop Iran now –… pic.twitter.com/ZkuUTIyW9k
— ישראל כ“ץ Israel Katz (@Israel_katz) 14 August 2024
Israel’s Foreign Minister Israel Katz wrote on X on Wednesday: “Arezu Badri, a 31-year-old Iranian woman and mother of two, is paralyzed after being shot by police for not wearing a hijab while driving. This is @khamenei_ir’s murderous dictatorship – oppressing citizens and enforcing radical Islam. We must stop Iran now – before it’s too late.”
