The French political class, from the left to the far right, paid tribute to the Iranian student, arrested for undressing this Saturday in Tehran. A symbolic gesture and much commented on.
It is a very symbolic gesture on the part of this Iranian student. The latter, with her hair down and in her underwear, was arrested in front of a university in Tehran this Saturday, November 2, by the local police.
A strong demonstration in this country where women’s rights are regularly violated. The video of this young woman was widely relayed and commented on on social networks.
A “heroic act”, according to the right
For its part, the political class praised his courage this Monday, November 4. The praise went as far as the National Rally, which triggered the anger of socialist MP Ayda Hadizadeh, born in Iran.
The president of the RN Jordan Bardella spoke on X “a lesson for certain Western leaders, whose compromises and retreats in the face of Islamism put women in existential danger”.
“It makes me want to scream!” said Ayda Hadizadeh, denouncing the “abject exploitation” of the “immense courage of Iranian women” by the far right. “The RN is absent when it comes to supporting women’s rights,” she added.
“If this young woman had requested political asylum in France, she would have been cataloged by the RN as ‘unlucky’ for France,” continued the MP
A reference to comments made in 2023 by Jordan Bardella who assured “not seeing the added value” for France in granting asylum to Afghan women victims of the Taliban regime.
The arrest of this Iranian woman also relaunched the debate around the wearing of the veil in France. “Our body, and everything we put on, or not, to clothe it, belongs to us,” wrote environmentalist MP Sandrine Rousseau.
On the right, Michèle Tabarot (LR) praised a “heroic act” from which “many in France should be inspired instead of pretending that wearing the veil is a choice”. And Éric Ciotti writes: “May his freedom guide an entire people and enlighten the zealots of the veil in France”.
“As long as countries force women to wear the veil, it cannot be a piece of fabric like any other,” believes Ayda Hadizadeh, who considers that this debate must “be organized within the Muslim community leaving the choice of freedom.
