The whereabouts of the young woman who stripped to her underwear at Tehran University, apparently to protest against the country’s strict Islamic dress code, are currently unknown.
Two days ago, she took the Internet by storm with her choice of protest. Visuals from the viral videos showed the woman in her underwear on the campus of Islamic Azad University as others gaped in surprise. Soon after, security guards detained her and took her away.
In a statement on X, university’s spokesperson Amir Mahjob said that the police found that she was “under severe mental pressure and had a mental disorder”.
He also claimed that the woman had separated from her partner and was a mother to two children.
However, some social media users suggested the woman’s action was a deliberate protest.
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.
“For most women, being …in their underwear in public is one of their worst nightmares;… This is a reaction to the (authorities’) stupid insistence on the mandatory hijab,” an X user said.
The university spokesperson had also 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.
Mahjob said security was alerted because of the “violation of the privacy of the students and professors.”
The fate of the woman was not known but the mass-circulation daily Hamshahri said on its website: “An informed source said…the perpetrator of this act has severe mental problems and, after investigations, she will most likely be transferred to a mental hospital.”
However, 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 has also demanded an independent probe into allegations of violence against her.
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, Mahsa Amini, in the custody of the morality police for allegedly violating hijab rules. Security forces violently put down the revolt.