A UN special rapporteur warned Iran that it is monitoring the case of a woman who was arrested after stripping to her underwear to protest an alleged assault for failing to comply with the country's notoriously strict hijab laws held.
Human rights groups and activists called on Iranian authorities to release the woman, whose whereabouts have been unknown since her arrest last weekend.
The incident sparked outrage among Iranian dissidents two years after thousands of women took to the streets in 2022 to protest the brutal 2022 death of Mahsa Amini.
“I will be closely monitoring this incident, including the response of the authorities,” Mai Sato wrote on X. She shared a video of the woman sitting and walking on the university campus in her underwear.
Another video showed her being detained by security forces and forcibly taken into a car.
Iranian security forces reportedly attacked the woman and stripped her of her clothes at the science and research department of Tehran's Islamic Azad University on Saturday for not adhering to hijab rules.
Local daily Hamshahri reported on its website citing an “informed source” that the woman “has serious mental problems and will most likely be transferred to a psychiatric hospital after examination.”
Farhikhtegana newspaper affiliated with Azad University, claimed that she had been admitted to a mental health facility.
In a video circulated by state media, a man identified himself as the woman's husband and claimed she was a mother of two and suffered from mental health problems.
Amir Mahjoub, director general of public relations at Islamic Azad University, said: “Following an indecent act by a student at the university's science and research department, campus security intervened and handed the individual over to law enforcement authorities.”
“The motives and underlying reasons for the student's actions are currently under investigation.”
Her arrest has sparked a backlash against the Iranian regime for suppressing dissent using familiar techniques previously used by authorities to pressure female protesters.
Imprisoned Nobel Peace Prize winner Narges Mohammadi issued a statement from prison describing the woman's body as a “symbol of rebellion, anger and defiance”. Iran International reported.
Ms Mohammadi said women are paying the price for their resistance but will not bow to violence as she called for the student's release.
The hashtag 'Science and Research Girl' is trending on social media, with people sharing art and statements in solidarity with women.
“Iranian women are rising up against everything that holds them captive. They rebel against everything that invites them to silence,” activist Hamed Esmaeilion wrote in Arabic.
Make sure you run out of money. Make sure you run out of money. Make sure you run out of money د.#دختر_علوم_تحقیقات#دادخواهی
This can be a problem. pic.twitter.com/ztt2OCWvOw
— Hamed Esmaeilion (@esmaeilion) November 3, 2024
Amnesty International's Iran unit called on authorities to release the student “immediately and unconditionally.”
Since Amini's death, a growing number of women are defying the country's strict hijab laws by shedding their veils.
22-year-old Amini died after being arrested by the vice squad for not wearing her hijab correctly. Her death became a breaking point and sparked unprecedented protests known as “Women, Life, Freedom” that lasted for three months in the country.
The months-long security crackdown that followed left more than 500 people dead and more than 22,000 arrested.
However, media reports indicate that nothing has changed since the protests, and scattered photos and videos have emerged showing women and young girls being abused by officers.
In October 2023, Iranian teenager Armita Geravand was injured in a mysterious incident on the Tehran metro while not wearing a headscarf. She later died in hospital after falling into a coma.
