Iran reportedly arrests a female university student who stripped down to her underwear in protest

Paris – Iranian authorities arrested a female student on Saturday after she staged a solo protest against harassment by stripping down to her underwear outside her university, reports said.

The woman, who has not been identified, was harassed inside Tehran’s prestigious Islamic Azad University by members of the paramilitary Basij force who tore her headscarf and clothing, according to reports from several news media and social media outlets outside Iran. She then took off her clothes in protest and sat outside the university, wearing only her underwear, before defiantly walking down the street to the amazement of passers-by, videos posted on social media showed.

Below IranAccording to the mandatory dress code, women must wear a headscarf and loose-fitting clothing in public.

The video, which was first posted by Iran’s student social media channel the Amir Kabir Newsletter, was published by numerous Persian-language media outlets, including the Hengaw rights group and the news website Iran Wire, as well as Amnesty International. It appeared to have been shot by onlookers in a neighboring building. Another video showed her being bundled into a car by men in plain clothes and driven to an unknown location.

The Amir Kabir Newsletter claimed that she was beaten during the arrest.

“Iranian authorities should immediately and unconditionally release the university student who was forcibly arrested after taking off her clothes in protest against the unlawful enforcement of the mandatory headscarf by security officials.” Amnesty International said so.

The London-based rights group, which has recorded allegations of abuse against women in Iranian prisons in recent years, added: “Pending her release, authorities must protect her from torture and other ill-treatment and access to family and lawyers to guarantee.”

It added that “allegations of assault and sexual violence against her during her arrest require an independent and impartial investigation.”

Iran’s conservative Fars news agency confirmed the incident in a report and published a photo showing the student heavily blurred.

It said the student had worn “inappropriate clothing” in class and “disrobed” in class after being warned by guards to adhere to the dress code.

Citing “witnesses”, it said the guards spoke “calmly” to the student and denied reports that their action had been aggressive.

Almost rural In 2022, protests broke out following the death in custody of Mahsa Aminian Iranian Kurdish woman who was arrested for allegedly violating the dress code. The protests, in which women broke taboos by removing their headscarves and sometimes even burning them, decreased under the influence of a crackdown that left 551 protesters dead and thousands arrested.

Many of those involved in the crackdown alleged they were treated cruelly while in custody, including some who said they were tortured and sexually abused. Iranian officials have denied all these allegations, calling them propaganda aimed at damaging the country’s international reputation.

Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei later formally announced pardons for all those arrested during the protests, although many reportedly rearrested or harassed then by the authorities.

Last September, in the wake of Amini’s death and the crackdown that followed, CBS News’ Seyed Bathaei said that street protests in Iran had all but disappeared, but the government appeared to be im still struggling with the continuing consequences of the unrest. Many women, especially in big cities and universities, continued to avoid the Islamic hijab while on the streets.

However, a year later, the country’s leaders introduced a new law, touted as the ‘Chasity and Hijab Bill’, in an attempt to enforce the mandatory dress code.

Penalties for violations of the hijab rule in the bill would range from fines for first-time offenders, to whipping and denial of government services, and even long prison sentences for repeat offenders.

“We cannot leave each other alone,” Katayoun Riahi, an actress who supported the protests, wrote in an Instagram post expressing her support for the student.

Hossein Ronaghi, a prominent Iranian activist who was jailed during the protests, praised the student’s “courage” in a post on . of people, especially women.”