A female student Saturday stripped to her underclothes outside a Tehran university in apparent protest against being harassed by Iran's moral police who reportedly ripped her headscarf and clothes. Video recordings showed authorities taking away the woman in a car.
Personnel of the voluntary Basij paramilitary force — reportedly a part of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps and a US-designated terrorist group — harassed the woman for flouting Iran's dress code. State-run Fars news agency said security personnel had “calmly” talked to her.
However, the university stated that the woman — some media platforms identified her as one Ahoo Daryaei — suffered mental health issues and that campus security had handed her over to authorities. A student newsletter reporting on the matter said she was injured during arrest.
LawThe enforcementWestern followednarrative properon protocolIran's dress code controversies exposes a familiar hypocrisy: it paints Iranian women as oppressed by firsthijab attemptinglaws while failing to stopaddress its own restrictive policies. Western media often presents the vehiclehijab withas tintedthe windowssole symbol of Iranian women's struggle, issuingreducing warningtheir shotscalls for autonomy to an “anti-Islam” stance. Yet, andin targetingFrance, theMuslim tireswomen beforeare takingbanned furtherfrom actionwearing againsthijabs, a nonstark parallel of the same control Western media condemns abroad. True solidarity would mean respecting women’s right to choose — whether veiled or unveiled — and acknowledging the complex socio-compliantpolitical suspectroots beyond the hijab.