Calls for release of Iranian woman who removed her clothes in protest

Video shared on social media shows the woman in Tehran walking down the street, before a number of men bundled her into a car and drove away. Credit: Amnesty Iran

Amnesty International has called for the release of a woman who was arrested after she stripped down to her underwear outside of her university in Iran in an act of protest.

The organisation said the woman was protesting against harassment relating to the country’s strict dress code.

Amnesty Iran said authorities "violently arrested" the woman, who has not been identified, after she protested the "abusive enforcement" of the dress code at Tehran's Islamic Azad University.

Videos on social media appeared to show the woman sitting outside the university in her underwear and with her hair uncovered.

She gestures to a number of other students, some of whom are female and are wearing headscarves, before walking around the premises.

The video also appears to show walking down a street before a group of men surrounded her and bundled her into a car.

According to the Amir Kabir newsletter, an Iranian student social media channel, the woman had previously been harassed by members of Basij, an Iranian volunteer paramilitary group.

ITV News' US partner CNN reported that the university's public relations director said the woman was suffering from mental health issues, though did not provide any more detail.

He also said the student was a mother of two, separated from her husband, and that he hoped her family’s reputation would not suffer from online “rumours.”

The circumstances behind the incident have not been independently verified.

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Amnesty Iran called for authorities to "immediately" and "unconditionally" release the student, and said allegations of beatings and sexual violence against her during her arrest need "independent and impartial investigations".

"Those responsible must held to account," the organisation added.

Wearing a hijab or headscarf in Iran is mandatory in public and is heavily enforced by the country's so-called morality police. Iranian women can be subjected to harsh punishment, even for minor infractions.

Protests broke out back in 2022 following the death of Mahsa Amini, a 22-year-old woman who died in the custody of morality police after allegedly not wearing her headscarf properly.

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