Human right defender Nasrin Sotoudeh was taken in by authorities during the burial of 17-year-old Armita Garavand.

Armita died following nearly a month in intensive care after a controversial incident on the metro. Ms Sotoudeh, 60, who received the European Parliament’s Sakharov prize in 2012 for her contributions to human rights, has faced arrest on a number of occasions.

Her husband, Reza Khandan, said: “My wife was arrested during the funeral of Armita Garavand along with others.”

Journalists covering the funeral reported assaults by Iranian security personnel, who allegedly attacked, beat, and detained mourners and protestors outside the Behesht-e-Zahra cemetery.

A journalist from Tehran, choosing to go by the name Negin, said: “They beat up mourners holding protest placards, I couldn’t get anywhere close to the funeral site.”

Another journalist said: “I was violently pushed back, and watched as they beat up those holding protest placards. I myself counted at least eight people who were violently beaten and detained. I have no idea where they were taken.”

The local Fars news agency reported that authorities had taken Sotoudeh into custody and turned her over to judicial officials for “not wearing a headscarf” and “disturbing the society’s mental security”.

Since 1983, following the Islamic revolution of 1979, Iranian women must cover their heads and necks in public.