Iranian authorities arrested a female student on Saturday after she staged a solo protest against harassment by stripping to her underwear in front of the university, reports said.

The woman, who has not been identified, was harassed inside Tehran’s prestigious Islamic Azad University by members of the Basij paramilitary force who tore off her headscarf and clothes, according to multiple outside news outlets and social media outlets. IRAN.

She then removed her clothes in protest and sat outside the university wearing only her underwear, before defiantly walking into the street to the astonishment of passers-by, videos posted on social media showed.

According to the mandatory dress code in Iran, women must wear headscarves and loose clothing in public.

The footage, which was first posted by the Iranian student social media channel Amir Kabir newsletter, has been published by numerous Persian-language outlets, including the rights group Hengaw and the news site Iran Wire, as well as Amnesty International.

The footage appears to have been filmed by onlookers in a neighboring building. Another video showed her being bundled into a car by plainclothes men and driven to an undisclosed location.

“Cry From The Heart”

The Amir Kabir newsletter claimed that she was beaten during her arrest.

“The Iranian authorities must immediately and unconditionally release the university student who was violently arrested after she removed her clothes in protest against the abusive enforcement of the mandatory veil by security officials,” said Amnesty International.

The London-based rights group, which has chronicled allegations of abuse against women in Iranian prisons in recent years, added: “Pending her release, the authorities must protect her from torture and other ill-treatment and ensure access to family and a lawyer.” .

It added that “allegations of beatings and sexual violence against her during her arrest require independent and impartial investigations.”

Iran’s conservative Fars news agency confirmed the incident in a report, publishing a very blurry image of the student.

It said the student wore “inappropriate clothes” to class and “undressed” after being warned by security guards to respect the dress code.

Citing “witnesses”, he said the security guards spoke “calmly” with the student and denied reports that their action was aggressive.

Almost nationwide protests erupted in 2022 after his death in custody Mahsa Aminian Iranian Kurdish woman who had been arrested for allegedly violating the dress code.

The protests, which saw women breaking taboos by removing their headscarves and sometimes even burning them, subsided in the face of a crackdown that left 551 protesters dead and thousands arrested.

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“We must not leave each other alone,” wrote Katayoun Riahi, an actress who supported the protests, in an Instagram post expressing her support for the student.

Hossein Ronaghi, a prominent Iranian activist who was imprisoned during the protests, in a post on X hailed the student’s “courage” and described her action as a “cry from the bottom of the heart against the oppression that has taken life. of people, especially women”.

(AFP)