An unidentified Iranian woman was arrested in Tehran after she was seen walking around the Islamic Azad University campus in her underwear, seemingly protesting Iran’s morality police dress code laws.
Footage shared on social media on Saturday shows the woman walking barefoot, sitting on a marble platform, and strolling through the university’s parking lot before several men in plain clothes forced her into a car and quickly drove away.
Local media suggested her motives may have been provoked by intense academic stress, while other reports claimed she had previously been harassed for not wearing her hijab correctly.
University spokesperson Amir Mahjob posted on X (formerly Twitter) “At the police station… it was determined she was under severe mental pressure and had a mental disorder.” Mahjob denied that she was protesting the country’s dress code, attributing her actions instead to her mental state.
The woman, reportedly a student at the university’s Science and Research Branch, had allegedly been assaulted by university security in the past for not wearing her hijab properly, according to Iranian news sources.
Many Iranians drew a parallel between her case and that of Mahsa Amini, a young woman who was beaten by morality police for not adhering to Iran’s strict dress code. Amini’s death in September 2022, allegedly following her injuries, ignited months of protests across the country and temporarily forced the morality police to halt patrols.
Though there was a significant public outcry, Iran’s legislation on hijab remained unchanged, and the morality police resumed enforcing dress code laws in 2023. Despite the risks, the Associated Press reports that many Iranian women still defy the laws, appearing without hijabs in restaurants and cafes.