An Iranian mother of two was allegedly shot by police in her car for violating the country’s draconian hijab rules.
Arezoo Badri, 31, was left paralyzed from the waist down after she was shot while driving home in the northern town of Noor on July 22.
Iranian police had attempted to arrest Ms Badri and confiscate her car. BBC has reported.
The police commander told Iran’s state news agency that the driver failed to stop, prompting officers to open fire, although they did not name Badri as the woman involved.
The incident comes after Iranian authorities announced a crackdown on the country’s strict dress code.
Last year, police said they would use CCTV cameras to identify female drivers or passengers who did not cover their hair and impound their cars.
Arezoo Badri, 31, was left paralyzed from the waist down after she was shot while driving home in the northern town of Noor on July 22.
Police said Ms Badri failed to stop her car when officers asked her to.
Ms Badri was first treated at a hospital in Sari, the provincial capital, where she underwent lung surgery, but was transferred a week later to Tehran.
In Iran, women have been required by law to wear the hijab since the 1979 Islamic Revolution and face fines or even prison sentences for violating these rules.
While it is unclear whether Ms Badri was wearing a hijab when she was shot, a forfeiture order was issued for her vehicle, suggesting an alleged consistent failure to comply with dress code laws.
A source told the BBC that the police officer deliberately targeted Ms Badri from the driver’s side after the first bullet hit the car’s tyre.
The bullet hit the 31-year-old woman’s lung and damaged her spinal cord, and it is currently unclear whether she will become permanently paraplegic or not.
Ms Badri was first treated at a hospital in Sari, the provincial capital, where she underwent lung surgery, but was transferred to Tehran a week later.
Iran’s strict new dress code laws 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 being detained by Iran’s morality police for not wearing her hijab “correctly”.
The death of 22-year-old Masha Amini in police custody sparked global protests in 2022
Amini died in custody after flouting Iran’s ultra-conservative dress code, sparking outrage across the country and beyond.
Women cut their hair in protest against the Iranian government after the death of Amini
Her death sparked weeks of nationwide protests in Iran over reports that police had beaten her to death.
However, Iranian authorities denied such claims and said the woman did not die from violent blows but from multiple organ failure caused by a lack of oxygen to the brain.
In addition, 17-year-old Armita Geravand died in hospital in October last year after an alleged altercation with the morality police at a metro station.
The teenager spent ten days in a coma but died at Fajr Hospital in Tehran.
Human rights activists say she was attacked for not covering her hair, a claim the Iranian government denies.
