Desperate pleas have been made for the release of an Iranian student who stripped to her underwear over strict hijab laws as an activist has warned her life is now in danger.
The unnamed woman was arrested and taken to a mental hospital by morality police on Saturday after being spotted walking around the campus of Tehran’s Science and Research University in her underwear.
Footage of the brave moment saw the Islamic Azad University student sitting and pacing back and forth with her arms crossed in front of stunned onlookers before she was detained by security forces and forcibly taken into a car.
Following her arrest, there have been widespread calls from human rights activists on social media for her immediate release after she reportedly sustained severe injuries during her violent arrest.
Iranian Journalist and activist, and founder of the World Liberty Congress – a nonprofit organisation connecting freedom fighters around the world – Masih Alinejad, said the woman’s act was ‘a powerful reminder of Iranian women’s fight for freedom’.
An unidentified female student was arrested on Saturday in Iran after she was spotted walking around the campus of Tehran’s Islamic Azad University science and research branch in her underwear
The brave act was an apparent protest against the country’s strict Islamic dress code
The student reportedly sustained severe injuries following the assault during her arrest
In an update she posted to X on Monday, Alinejad said: ‘The authorities in Iran are now claiming that a young woman, who courageously removed her clothes in protest against harassment by the morality, police at her university, suffers from psychological illness and has been admitted to a mental health hospital’.
She claimed the accusation of mental instability is a ‘familiar tactic’ used by the Islamic Republic.
Speaking of her own experience, courageously going against the regime, Alinejad recalled: ‘In 2014, when I launched the My Stealthy Freedom campaign against compulsory hijab, the regime used similar lies against me, claiming I had a mental breakdown, undressed myself on the London subway and was raped by three men.
‘This is how they attempt to undermine those who resist their oppression’.
The activist went on to cite an eyewitness report made by a student who was also on campus the day the unidentified woman was arrested.
The witness recounted the moment they saw the university’s security and morality forces trying to ‘drag’ the female student into a security room ‘under the pretext of her not wearing a proper hijab’.
‘She resisted, and in the struggle, her hoodie was pulled off, leaving her with only her undergarments underneath,’ the witness said, adding: ‘Shocked, the security officers let her go, after which, in a moment of rage, she removed her pants and threw them at the officers’.
Alinejad claimed the eyewitness account directly contradicted the regime’s narrative and showed the extent of brutality Iranian women face for the ‘most basic acts of defiance’.
The unnamed student has now allegedly been forcibly hospitalised under psychiatric supervision ‘marking the start of torture and, soon after, the cycle of forced confessions,’ warned the activist
‘I believe her life is now in serious danger. I urge international media, human rights organizations, and the international community to support her before is too late.
‘Let’s be her voice,’ she concluded.
Mahsa Amini, 22, died on September 16, three days after falling into a coma following her arrest
People in support of the Iranian community take part in the Freedom Rally for Iran demonstration against the Iranian regime on February 22, 2023 in Rome, Italy
Amini died in custody after not observing Iran’s ultra-conservative dress code, causing outrage across the country and beyond
A newsletter by the student group Amir Kabir on Sunday wrote the student was ‘disrobed after being harassed for not wearing a headscarf and having her clothing torn by security forces’.
‘Blood stains from the student were reportedly seen on the car’s tyres,’ the newsletter said, adding that her head was struck either by a car door or a pillar which caused heavy bleeding.
Amnesty International’s Iran branch called on the Iranian authorities to ‘immediately and unconditionally’ release the student who was brutally detained on Saturday.
‘Pending her release, authorities must protect her from torture and other ill-treatment & ensure access to family and lawyer,’ it said in a post on X yesterday.
‘Allegations of beatings and sexual violence against her during arrest need independent & impartial investigations. Those responsible must held to account,’ it continued.
Growing numbers of women have defied authorities by discarding their veils after nationwide protests that followed the death in September 2022 of a young Iranian Kurdish woman in the custody of the morality police for allegedly violating hijab rules.
Mahsa Amini, 22, died after being captured by morality police for not wearing her hijab correctly.
Her death spearheaded mass protests known as ‘Women. life, freedom’ which lasted months in the country.
A year later, in October 2023, an Iranian teenager named Armita Geravand was injured in a suspicious incident on Tehran’s metro while not wearing a head covering.
She later died in the hospital after falling into a coma.