Security forces in Iran have moved the family of Hasti Hossein Panahi, a student who fell into a coma after a police attack on her school, to a place under their supervision amid reports that doctors have lost hope that the 16-year-old will make a recovery.
The Kurdpa news agency confirmed on January 17 that Panahi's family was taken from their home to a government apartment in the western Iranian city of Sanandaj and have been forbidden from meeting or contacting anyone.
Security forces summoned Hossein Panahi's and several other students' families in early November and showed them videos of their daughters participating in anti-government protests sparked by the death of Mahsa Amini while she was in police custody.
The students were taken to an unknown location and were allegedly beaten by the security officers before they were returned to the school, according to rights groups and eyewitnesses. An hour later, Panahi fell into a coma.
On November 10, the Coordinating Council of Teachers Syndicates (CCTS) quoted local sources as saying that Panahi's mother said her daughter was beaten with a baton and marks from the assault were visible on her head.
The Hengaw human rights group reported on the same day, quoting sources, that Panahi was flown by helicopter to the Kausar Hospital in Sanandaj, where her level of consciousness was considered extremely low and her condition "potentially fatal."
Iran has been roiled by unrest -- one of the deepest challenges to the Islamic regime since the revolution in 1979 -- since the September 16 death of the 22-year-old Amini while in police custody for allegedly wearing a hijab, or head scarf, improperly.
The government has held several counterrallies to try and quell the dissent but people continue to take to the streets across the country. Security forces have also launched a series of raids on schools across the country, violently arresting students, especially female students, who have defiantly taken off their hijabs in protest.
The activist HRANA news agency said that as of January 15 at least 522 people had been killed during the unrest, including 70 minors, as clashes between protesters and the authorities have become more commonplace at universities and schools.
Written by Ardeshir Tayebi based on an original story in Persian by RFE/RL's Radio Farda
