Female student arrested in Iran for stripping in protest

An Iranian woman was arrested after reportedly stripping down to her undergarments to protest an alleged assault by security forces for not following strict hijab laws.

- SHWETA SHARMA

The woman was reportedly assaulted, and her clothes were torn inside Tehran’s Islamic Azad University science and research branch on Saturday for not following strict hijab rules, Iran International reported.

A widely circulated video on social media shows a woman sitting and walking around the university campus in her underwear. Another video shows her being detained by security forces and forcibly taken into a car.

Islamic Azad University confirmed her arrest on X (Twitter) without giving any reason. “Following an indecent act by a student at the science and research branch of the university, campus security intervened and handed the individual over to law enforcement authorities,” Amir Mahjoub, director general of public relations at Islamic Azad University, wrote on X. “The motives and underlying reasons for the student’s actions are currently under investigation.”