Iranian student strips naked in protest against strict hijab dress code

A female student at a university in Tehran stripped to her underwear in protest after being harassed by security officers on campus because of her hijab.

Videos circulating widely on social media show the unidentified student sitting outside campus in her underwear as security guards surround her.

Another video shows her walking around campus in her bra and underwear as stunned fellow students film her on their cell phones.

Her act of defiance began on Saturday after a confrontation at Azad University’s science and research center, when security forces physically attacked the student for not wearing a headscarf.

In response to her clothes being torn, she chose to remove her remaining garments in protest, according to the Iranian students’ social media news channel, the Amir Kabir Newsletter and witnesses who spoke to The Telegraph.

Multiple witnesses confirmed her subsequent detention by authorities. Video footage showed security officers kidnapping her from campus.

Officers forcibly arrest student

About ten security guards were captured on video forcibly restraining the young woman into a vehicle. The footage showed a group of officers overrunning her before she was arrested.

“Oh God, how many of them attack just one person?” an onlooker was heard saying. “I can’t believe what I’m seeing,” said another.

“Around noon, I saw a girl being picked up and forcibly taken away by security forces at the entrance to the faculty,” a witness told The Telegraph from Tehran.

“She was not wearing a headscarf. They then reached the security building at the entrance, where a male and a female security guard grabbed her and tried to force her into the office.

“She resisted and her hoodie was ripped off her body, it made her very angry and she took off the rest of her clothes.

“She angrily shouted at them and took off her pants – she sat outside campus for a few minutes and the officer became more aggressive.

“I couldn’t see much, but a few minutes after she started walking, several plainclothes officers ambushed her and forced her into a car.”

Student media reported that she suffered injuries during the arrest, including severe head trauma after being struck by a vehicle. Witnesses said traces of blood were visible at the scene.

#Girl of Science and Research

The images have been widely shared in Iran and the student has already become a powerful symbol of resistance, attracting national attention under the hashtag: ‘Girl of Science and Research.’

“If courage had a face,” a user posted on X with the girl’s photo. “That brave girl is my leader,” another user wrote.

Amir Mahjoub, the university’s director of public relations, said she was transferred to a “police station” and claimed she is under “severe mental stress and suffering from mental disorders.”

University-affiliated newspaper Farhikhtegan also claimed, citing “official and unofficial sources,” that the student has “serious psychological and mental problems.”

The report added that after being handed over to police by university security staff, she was admitted to a mental institution.

Whereabouts and condition unknown

There is no further information regarding her whereabouts or condition.

Amnesty International has urged Iranian authorities to release the girl “immediately and unconditionally”.

This is not the first time that officials and media linked to the Islamic Republic have accused protesters of “mental disorders” and forcibly placed them in psychiatric institutions. The protest reflects previous acts of civil disobedience, especially that of Vida Movahed, known as “the girl from Enghelab Street”.

This show of defiance gained international attention in 2017 when a woman removed her headscarf and held it up on the tip of a stick as she stood to protest the mandatory hijab.

Observers have drawn parallels between these demonstrations, seeing them as key moments in Iranian women’s ongoing struggle for personal freedoms.

After September 2022 death in custody of 22-year-old Mahsa Aminiand the subsequent protests, Iranian universities have also faced increased repression and scrutiny. The protests led to acts of civil disobedience by Iranian women and girls against the mandatory hijab.

New stricter laws

All women in Iran must hide their hair in public with a headscarf and wear loose-fitting pants under their jackets, but a growing number of Iranian women have appeared in public without a head covering.

The Iranian police and security forces have done so have intensified enforcement of the rules. A new bill making its way through Iran’s parliament aims to tighten rules governing how women and men can dress in public, but authorities have already started enforcing it before it was formally approved.

Article 50 of the bill says that anyone “naked, semi-naked or wearing clothing considered inappropriate in public” will be immediately arrested and handed over to judicial authorities.

The bill also implements gender segregation in a wide range of settings, including universities, hospitals, educational and administrative centers, parks and tourist sites.

People who break the new rules also risk being banned from leaving the country and using social media for a period of six months to two years.

“These girls are going to die one day Ayatollah Ali KhameneiIran’s future belongs to free women, not the mullahs,” a student from Tehran told The Telegraph.

“She will be remembered as a hero by many women,” she said of the girl who protested on Saturday. “After the fall of this regime, her photo will be everywhere in Iran, just like Mahsa Amin’s and many more.”

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