Iran has called for the release of a woman detained after she undressed at a university

Human rights activists have called on Iranian authorities to release a woman who was detained after she stripped at a university to protest against the mandatory wearing of the hijab.

On Saturday, a video appeared on social networks in which a woman in her underwear sits on the stairs and then calmly walks down the sidewalk near the research department of the Islamic Azad University in Tehran.

In the second video, the woman removes her underwear. Shortly afterwards, plainclothes agents are seen forcibly detaining her and pushing her into a car.

Azad University said the woman was suffering from a “mental disorder” and was taken to a “psychiatric hospital”.

Many Iranians on social media questioned the statement and portrayed her actions as part of the “Woman, Life, Freedom” movement, in which many women publicly flouted laws requiring them to cover their hair and wear long, loose clothing.

More than 500 people have reportedly been killed in nationwide protests that erupted two years ago after a Kurdish woman, Mahsa Amini, died in police custody after being detained for “improperly” wearing a hijab.

Telegram channel Amirkabir Newsletter, which calls itself the “media of the Iranian student movement” and was the first to publish the story, reported that the woman quarreled with the guards because of the lack of a handkerchiefleading to her disrobing during the fight.

It said the woman’s head hit the door or frame of the plainclothes agents’ car during her arrest, causing bleeding, and that she was taken to an undisclosed location.

A witness told BBC Persian that the woman walked into their classroom at Azad University and started filming the students. When the teacher objected, she left screaming, they said.

According to eyewitnesses, the woman told the students: “I came to save you.”

Meanwhile, Iranian media released a video of a man with a blurred face who claimed to be the woman’s ex-husband and asked the public not to publish the video for the sake of her two children. BBC Persian was unable to verify the man’s claims.

“When I protested against the mandatory wearing of the hijab, after the security forces arrested me, my family was pressured to declare me mentally ill.” said Canadian women’s rights activist Azam Jangraviwho fled Iran after she was sentenced to three years in prison for removing her headscarf during a protest in 2018.

“My family didn’t do it, but many families under pressure do, believing it’s the best way to protect their loved ones. In this way, the Islamic Republic is trying to discredit women, questioning their mental health,” she added.

Amnesty International said Iran “must immediately and unconditionally release the forcibly arrested university student.”

“Pending her release, the authorities must protect her from torture and other ill-treatment, as well as ensure access to her family and a lawyer. Allegations of beating and sexual assault against her during her arrest require an independent and impartial investigation. The guilty must be brought to justice,” it added.

The UN Special Rapporteur on Iran, Mai Sato, released footage of X and wrote about it it will “closely monitor this incident, including the response of the authorities”.

Narges Mohammadi, an Iranian Nobel Peace Prize laureate currently imprisoned in Iran, issued a statement saying she was seriously concerned about this case.

“Women pay for disobedience, but we don’t give in to force,” she said.

“The student who protested at the university turned her body, which has long been used as an instrument of repression, into a symbol of dissent. I call for her freedom and an end to the harassment of women.”