On 2 November, a student at Iran’s Azad University had her headscarf and clothes violently torn by Basji volunteers – a terrorist paramilitary group that attacks and detains those who protest against the Iranian regime.

In response, she staged a solo protest against the country’s oppressive modesty laws, in which she stripped to her underwear and sat outside the university, until a group of men surrounded and detained her. Her protest was filmed and went viral on social media. 

Iran’s authorities must immediately & unconditionally release the university student who was violently arrested on 2 Nov after she removed her clothes in protest against abusive enforcement of compulsory veiling by security officials at Tehran’s Islamic Azad University. 1/2 pic.twitter.com/lI1JXYsgtm

— Amnesty Iran (@AmnestyIran) November 2, 2024

Amnesty Iran posted this video on X on 2 November, asking for the immediate release of the university student depicted.

Amir Mahjob, Azad University’s spokesperson, claimed the student had a “mental disorder” and had been taken to a psychiatric unit. Amnesty International has investigated these institutions and found evidence that detainees were subjected to electric shocks, beatings, and physical and chemical torture. 

The story roused international condemnation, with Amnesty International calling for the student’s immediate release. On 19 November, a spokesperson for the Iranian judiciary, Asghar Jahangir, announced her release and declared that “no judicial case [would be] filed against her” given her supposed mental condition.

Unfortunately, this story is only one example of the ever-declining freedoms of women living under the authoritarian Iranian regime.   

‘Woman, life, freedom’ protests

In 2022, Mahsa Jina Amini, 22, was arrested by Iran’s Gasht-e Ershad (the so-called morality police) for failing to “properly” cover her hair (laws on how to comply with the modesty codes are arbitrary and left to the discretion of state agents and businesses). Tragically, she died in custody.

While Iran’s state coroner attributed her death to pre-existing health conditions, a UN human rights expert established that Amini had been killed as “a result of beatings” by the morality police.

Her death ignited protests across the country under the motto ‘Women, life, freedom’, which prompted women to burn their headscarves, cut their hair in public and chant “Death to the Dictator” (meaning Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, the country’s Supreme Leader). Men have also participated in these protests.

However, these courageous acts were not left unpunished by the regime. Iran’s Human Rights Activists News Agency has estimated 530 deaths and 20,000 detentions (including journalists, footballers and filmstars) at the hands of Iranian security forces as a result of these protests and the implementation of stricter modesty laws.

A new law on promoting the “culture of chastity and hijab” was enacted in December 2023. Those caught promoting “nudity, indecency, unveiling or improper dressing” could be fined up to £12,500, flogged and imprisoned for five to 15 years.

Peaceful activism against veiling laws may be punishable by death, whereas officials and vigilantes enforcing such brutality are protected. Further, Iranian authorities can sentence people to death for conduct deemed “corruption on Earth”.

However, the new law was immediately suspended, with no indication of when it will come into force.

Women’s rights in Iran

In February 1979, the Iranian Revolution overthrew the Pahlavi monarchy and established an Islamic Republic under the leadership of Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini, turning the tide against women’s rights.

This manifested in a series of legislative and social reforms that remain to this day, including:

• Khomeini deemed Iran a “government of God”, making Sharia law the state law
• The Gasht-e Ershad were established in 2005 to control women and enforce the country’s oppressive dress code
• The legal age of marriage for girls was lowered from 18 to nine
• Women are legally required to wear hijabs
• Women are forbidden from dancing, singing solo, or riding a bicycle in public
• Women are forbidden from travelling without their husband’s permission
• Women are forbidden from attending sports matches
• Women must sit at the back of the bus
• A woman’s court testimony and inheritance are deemed half of that of a man
• Hijab removal treatment clinics that provide “scientific and psychological treatment” for women who refuse to wear a hijab, introduced in November 2024

Nevertheless, Iranian women continue to protest the gender apartheid.

Iranian women must be seen and heard.