Iran arrests student who stripped to protest dress code

Iranian authorities reportedly arrested a student on Saturday after she protested alone against harassment outside her university, during which she stripped down to her underwear.

According to reports from multiple news agencies and social media channels outside Iran, the woman, who was not identified, was harassed by members of the paramilitary Basij force by tearing her headscarf and clothing at the prestigious Islamic Azad University in Tehran.

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 astonishment of passers-by, videos posted on social media showed.

Iran's dress code requires women to wear a headscarf and loose-fitting clothing in public.

The footage, first published on Iranian student social media channel Amir Kabir Newsletter, has been published by numerous Persian-language media outlets, including Hengaw Rights Group and news website Iran Wire, as well as Amnesty International.

The footage was apparently taken by onlookers in a neighboring building. In another video, men in civilian clothes showed her being dragged into a car and driven to an unknown location.

“Cry from the bottom of your heart”

Amir Kabir's newsletter said she was beaten during the arrest.

“Iranian authorities must immediately and unconditionally release the university student who was violently detained after she was violently detained in protest against security officials’ abusive enforcement of the veil requirement,” Amnesty International said.

The London-based human rights group, which has documented allegations of abuse against women in Iranian prisons in recent years, added: “Until they are released, authorities must protect them from torture and other ill-treatment and ensure access to family and lawyers.”

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

The conservative Iranian news agency Fars confirmed the incident in a report and published an image in which the student was heavily blurred.

It said the student wore “inappropriate clothing” in class and “took off his clothes” after being asked by security guards to comply with the dress code.

Citing “witnesses,” it said security forces spoke to the student “calmly” and denied reports that their actions were aggressive.

Nearly nationwide protests erupted in 2022 following the death of Mahsa Amini, an Iranian Kurdish woman who was arrested for an alleged dress code violation.

The protests, in which women broke taboos by removing their headscarves and occasionally even burning them, subsided while 551 protesters died and thousands were arrested.

Read moreTwo years after the death of Mahsa Amini, a “quiet revolution” is still underway in Iran

“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 well-known Iranian activist who was detained during the protests, praised people, especially women, in a post.

(AFP)