IRANIAN WOMAN DETAINED AFTER STRIPPING OFF HER CLOTHES AT A UNIVERSITY IN APPARENT PROTEST

Mon 04 November 2024:

The UN Special Rapporteur on human rights in Iran says she is monitoring the case of a young Iranian woman who was forcibly detained after protesting the country’s mandatory hijab by removing her clothes at Tehran’s Azad University.

Maio Sato shared a video of the student on the social media platform X, stating she would be following the incident closely, especially observing the response of authorities.

I will be monitoring this incident closely, including the authorities response. #Iran https://t.co/CgEIjCKEMD

— Mai Sato (@drmaisato) November 2, 2024

Video showing the woman sitting on an outdoor staircase and then walking around in her underwear was shared widely on social media over the weekend, and has been geolocated to a branch of the Islamic Azad University in the capital, Tehran.

Other students, including women wearing the state-mandated hijab, watch the woman with shock while a group of older people in more formal clothing confer nearby. Another video showed the woman then walking next to the campus along a street before she is seen struggling with a number of people beside a car.

She was later taken to the police station, Iran’s semi-official news agency Tasnim reported.

It is unclear exactly when the incident occurred but both the video and reports in Iranian media began circulating on Saturday.

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Amnesty International shared the video on X and called for the immediate release of the woman, who it said had been “violently arrested on 2 Nov after she removed her clothes in protest against abusive enforcement of compulsory veiling by security officials.”

State-run newspaper Farhikhtegan and the state-run Fars news agency reported the arrest, saying the woman had acted “inappropriately.”

In a report that included a photo of the woman that had been blurred, Fars said that the student had “arrived inappropriately dressed for class. After receiving a warning from campus security about dress code regulations, she stripped off her clothes and walked around the university.”

A spokesperson for the university, Seyed Amir Mahjob, said the student had been taken to a psychiatric hospital after being detained and that an investigation into her motivations was underway.

Social media uproar

The incident has since drawn public backlash online, with social media users denouncing what they see as a familiar tactic used by authorities to delegitimize female protestors by labeling them as mentally unstable.

In a show of solidarity, the hashtag Science and Research Girl has emerged as a focal point for those opposing Iran’s treatment of women who defy hijab mandates.

Defiance is the heart of courage. The fire that burns bright to stand against all odds and dangerous alone in the face of tyranny, ripping off the layers that enslave her. She stands tall when most would crumble in fear, awakening the spirit of many, to turn fear into action and… pic.twitter.com/ZrZZcyCYCD

— Gazelle غزاله شارمهد (@GazelleSharmahd) November 3, 2024

Another activist, Roya Heshmati, who previously faced lashings for not wearing a hijab, posted on Instagram, “May your pride and defiance become a blazing torch in the dark chasm that lies before you, my dear sister.”

Many are also creating and sharing illustrations on social media in support of the young student.

از دختر خیابان انقلاب تا دختر علوم تحقیقات…
ما ادامه داریم…#دختر_علوم_تحقیقات #زن_زندگى_آزادى‌ pic.twitter.com/gRZdRO6Zez

— Sanaz Bagheri (@sanazcartoon) November 2, 2024

“Well-behaved women seldom make history.” Laurel Thatcher Ulrich#دختر_علوم_تحقیقات pic.twitter.com/M2QqdClIYU

— Chelsea Hart ۴۰۳۰ (@chelseahartisme) November 3, 2024

Her arrest is yet another in Iran that appears to carry echoes of the case of Mahsa Amini, who died in a hospital after being taken into police custody in Sept. 2022. Amini, an Iranian-Kurdish woman, was detained by the country’s morality police for allegedly not adhering to the strict dress code. Her death sparked nationwide protests that posed the biggest challenge to the theocratic regime since the 1979 Islamic Revolution.

SOURCE: INDEPENDENT PRESS AND NEWS AGENCIES

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