a student undresses in front of her university to protest against the moral police, before being arrested

She walks, barefoot on the asphalt, arms crossed over her bare stomach, her long brown hair falling down her back. The video of an Iranian student in her underwear in front of the prestigious Islamic Azad University in Tehran went around the world this weekend. Published on Saturday November 2 by the Iranian student website Amir Kabir, then taken up by the human rights groups Hengaw and Amnesty Iran, these images once again highlight the tenacious repression to which Iranian women are victims.

According to several human rights activist sites, the young woman, aged 30, took off her clothes “as a sign of protest against the abusive application of the compulsory wearing of the veil” by the Basijis (volunteer Islamic militiamen and one of the cogs of repression in Iran), reports Amnesty Iran, a branch of Amnesty International.

In the images captured by the residents of a neighboring building, the young woman walks slowly in front of the university square, to the indifference of many students, while the laughter of the authors of the video masks the noise. from the street. She then walks away towards the road, before being arrested and thrown into a white car by individuals dressed in black.

Amnesty calls for an investigation to be opened

The Iranian Fars agency, which published a blurred photo of the student, claims that the latter was wearing “inappropriate” in progress. The media attached to the Iranian government specifies that it “get out” after being warned by university security officers. Citing “witnesses”Fars reports that the agents spoke “calmly” to the young woman, without showing aggression.

In Iran, the appearance “in public without the Muslim veil” is liable to “imprisonment sentence of ten days to two months”. Islamic law in Iran imposes a very strict dress code on women, who are required to wear headscarves and loose clothing that conceals their shapes.

“The Iranian authorities must immediately and unconditionally release” the young woman, urged Amnesty Iran, on “The allegations of beatings and sexual violence against him during his arrest must be the subject of an independent and impartial investigation”adds the organization.

Protest movements in 2022

This event comes more than two years after the revolt of Iranian women, after the death of Mahsa Amini, arrested by the moral police and died while in police custody, on September 16, 2022. The death of Mahsa Amini had triggered a vast movement protest under the banner “Woman, life, freedom”with demonstrations in several cities in October and November before ebbing.

Several hundred people, including members of the security forces, were killed and thousands were arrested. Seven men were executed for their involvement in this movement.

Called into question by the demonstrators, the moral police had since largely disappeared from the streets. And more and more women were going out with their heads uncovered, particularly in Tehran and in big cities.