An Iranian mother-of-two was allegedly shot by police in her car over violations of the country’s draconian hijab rules.
Arezoo Badri, 31, has been left paralysed from the waist down after she was fired at while driving home in the northern city of Noor on July 22.
Iranian police had attempted to pull Ms Badri over and confiscate her car, the BBC has reported.
The police commander told Iran’s state-run news agency that the driver did not stop which prompted the officers to shoot, although they did not name Ms Badri as the woman involved.
The incident comes after the Iranian authorities announced a clampdown on the country’s strict dress code.
Last year, police said they would use CCTV cameras to identify female drivers or passengers who were not covering their hair and confiscate their cars.
Arezoo Badri, 31, has been left paralysed from the waist down after she was fired at while driving home in the northern city of Noor on July 22
Police said Ms Badri failed to stop her car when asked to by officers
Ms Badri was first treated in a hospital in Sari, the provincial capital where she underwent lung surgery but she was transferred a week later to Tehran
Women have been required by law to wear a hijab in Iran since the Islamic Revolution in 1979 and they face fines or even imprisonment for violations of the rules.
Although it is unclear whether Ms Badri was wearing a hijab when she was shot at, her vehicle had a confiscation notice issued against it, suggesting alleged consistent flouting of the dress code laws.
A source told the BBC that Ms Badri was deliberately targeted by the police officer from the driver’s side after the first bullet hit the car’s tyre.
The bullet struck the 31-year-old’s lung and damaged her spinal cord and it is currently unclear whether she will be permanently paraplegic or not.
Ms Badri was first treated in a hospital in Sari, the provincial capital, where she underwent lung surgery, but she was then transferred a week later to Tehran.
Iran’s strict new laws on the dress code in cars come after a prolonged public outcry following the death of 22-year-old Masha Amini in 2022.
Ms Amini died in custody after she was detained by Iran’s morality police for not wearing her hijab ‘properly’.
The death of Masha Amini, 22, in police custody sparked worldwide protests in 2022
Amini died in custody after not observing Iran’s ultra-conservative dress code, causing outrage across the country and beyond
Women cut their hair in protest against the Iranian government following Amini’s death
Her death ignited weeks of nationwide protests in Iran over reports she was beaten to death by police.
The Iranian authorities however denied such claims, saying she died not from violent blows but from multiple organ failure caused by a lack of oxygen to the brain.
Furthermore, 17-year-old Armita Geravand died in hospital in October last year following an alleged altercation with the morality police in an underground station.
The teenager spent ten days in a coma but passed away at Fajr Hospital in Tehran.
It has been alleged by human rights activists that she was attacked for not covering her hair. The Iranian government denies this account.
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