Two days back, a young Iranian woman took the Internet by storm when she stripped to her underwear on a Tehran university campus, apparently to protest against the country's strict dress code for women. Visuals showed her roaming on the campus of Islamic Azad University as others gaped in surprise. Soon after, security guards detained her and took her away. Her current location is not known.
Who Is She?
The identity of the woman, who has emerged as a feminist icon since the visuals went viral, is not known yet. While most posts on social media stress that her move to undress was a form of protest against the dress code, a university spokesperson has claimed that the police have found that she is suffering from a "mental disorder" and was under "severe mental pressure". The spokesperson, Amir Mahjob, said the woman had separated from her partner and was mother to two children.
Claims, Counter Claims
An Iranian student social media channel, Amir Kabir newsletter, reported that the woman stripped to her underwear after members of Basij, a volunteer paramilitary force, harassed her for not following the dress code properly. Amnesty said she was "violently arrested" after she protested the "abusive enforcement" of the dress code. Iran's Fars news agency said two security personnel had "calmly spoken" to her and asked her to follow the dress code. The university spokesperson said there was no face-off between the student and security guards. He claimed that the woman was filming her classmates without their consent and they had objected to this. The security was alerted because of the "violation of the privacy of the students and professors", he said.
Where is she now?
Visuals on social media show a group of people grabbing the woman and putting her into a car. The university spokesperson's remarks suggest she was taken to a police station. He insisted that her health condition was fine. With no clear answers regarding the woman's whereabouts, apprehensions have surfaced over her well-being. The Amir Kabir newsletter has alleged that she was beaten during the arrest, AFP reported. Amnesty International demanded her immediate release and said authorities must protect her from torture and other ill-treatment. The London-based rights group also demanded an independent probe into allegations of violence against her.
The Mahsa Amini Backdrop
The Iranian woman's move and her subsequent detention have played out against the growing resistance in Iran to the strict dress code for women. Earlier, in 2022, nationwide protests had erupted in the country after an Iranian-Kurdish woman, Mahsa Hamini, died after she was arrested for an alleged breach of the dress code. The protests saw women remove their headscarves and burn them. Thousands were arrested and over 500 protesters were killed as the authorities cracked down hard on the agitation.
Hossein Ronaghi, a prominent Iranian activist who was jailed during the protests, has now praised the "bravery" of the student seen in the video. "The symbolic and protest movement of the research science student is a revolt against government repression; A cry from the bottom of the heart against the oppression that has taken life from people, especially women," he said in a post on X.
