Iran: what happened to the student who stripped to her underwear in Tehran?

She suddenly stripped to her underwear in front of the prestigious Azad University in Tehran, Iran. Then she walked, arms crossed. The images where we see her walking are now going around the world, taken up by many artists, as a new symbol of the fight against oppression. The student was quickly established as a new symbolic figure in the fight for women's rights in Iran. But what happened to the young woman?

According to Iranian activists, the young woman, whose identity – Ahoo Daryaei – is still not confirmed, is a student at the prestigious Azad University in Tehran. When she took off her veil, it was to protest, harassed as she was by members of the Basidj militia, according to these activists. An activist lawyer site reports that a member of the militia blocked her way, judging that she had put on her veil incorrectly. Then he would be violent with the young woman, tearing off her clothes.

First posted by the Iranian student site Amir Kabir, the video was published by numerous Persian sites including the legal site Dadban, the human rights group Hengaw and the news site Iran Wire. Then other images show the young woman thrown into a car by men in civilian clothes. According to the Amir Kabir website, she was beaten during the arrest.

On the X network, the general director of public relations at Azad University, Amir Majhoub, the young woman was reportedly taken to a psychiatric hospital after her arrest. He mentions a “mental disorder” and a separation from the father of his children, without it being possible to verify this information. In a video that he also shares on X, we also see a man in tears who asks that the video of the young woman undressed be no longer shared. This man, whose identity or registration conditions cannot be verified, only indicates that she has two children. The university representative uses this testimony to call for preserving the family's reputation.

According to the Iran Wire website, the strategy of “mental disorders” is frequently used by the regime to disqualify its opponents. In this case, the young woman was studying French at university, without any known disorder, adds Iran Wire.

“Beats” during his arrest?

« Iranian authorities must immediately and unconditionally release » the young woman, said Amnesty Iran, branch of Amnesty International, on X. “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.

This Tuesday, November 5, Jean-Noël Barrot, the Minister of Foreign Affairs assured on France2 that the French ambassador to Iran “ monitors his situation very carefully “, greeting in passing the “ courage of this young woman who made an act of resistance, and who rose to the rank of icone. »

«Iranian authorities systematically use involuntary psychiatric hospitalization as a means of suppressing dissent and undermining the credibility of opponentssaid CHRI Executive Director Hadi Ghaemi in a statement. The organization cites several cases, such as that of actress Afsaneh Bayegan and two other actresses who had been judged “suffering from mental illness” by a Tehran court in July 2023 after defying Islamic laws on compulsory veiling. Or that of Kurdish rapper Saman Yasin, arrested during the “Femme Vie Liberté” movement demonstrations and forcibly hospitalized in a psychiatric establishment in July 2023.

The 2003 Nobel Peace Prize winner, Iranian lawyer Shirin Ebadi, also claimed that the young student had been transferred to a psychiatric hospital. “Making opponents sick is a proven method of repression,” she said, likening this strategy to “torture”.

«The student who protested transformed her body into a symbol of dissent”reacted in a message on the networks another Iranian Nobel Peace Prize (2023), the imprisoned opponent Narges Mohammadi. “I appeal for his release and an end to harassment of women“, she added.

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. Iranian women are at the origin of an unprecedented revolt movement in the country after the death of the young Kurd Mahsa Amini in September 2022, arrested for not having respected the dress code. The Femme Vie Liberté movement has been massively repressed by the Iranian authorities, with at least 551 deaths and thousands of people arrested, according to NGOs.