Woman strips off clothes at Iran university “in apparent protest”: Reports

TEHRAN: A young woman stripped to her underwear at an Iranian university on Saturday in apparent protest against the country’s strict religious dress code, according to online videos and media reports.

In a video posted on social media, it can be seen that security guards are detaining an unknown woman in a branch of Islamic Azad University.

“She was found to be under severe stress and suffering from a mental disorder at the police station,” university spokesman Aamir Mahjob told X.

But some social media users termed the woman’s action as a deliberate act of protest.

“For most women, wearing their underwear in public is one of their worst nightmares […] It’s a reaction to (authorities’) stupid insistence on mandatory hijab,” said Lee La, a user on X. In a comment with the video.

The woman’s fate was not known but the widely circulated Hamshahri newspaper said on its website: “An informed source said that the perpetrator of the act suffers from severe mental problems and after investigations he may be released. Will be transferred to a mental hospital.”

Following the September 2022 death of a young Iranian Kurdish woman in police custody for allegedly violating hijab laws, a growing number of women have taken off their veils to defy the authorities, following nationwide protests.

Security forces violently crushed the uprising.