UN warns Iran the world is watching its response to woman who stripped in protest

The UN Special Rapporteur warned Iran that she is following the case woman arrested after stripping down to her underwear protest an alleged attack for not following the country’s notoriously strict rules hijab laws.

Rights groups and activists have called on Iranian authorities to release the woman, whose whereabouts have been unknown since her arrest over the weekend.

The incident sparked outrage among Iranian dissidents two years after thousands of women took to the streets in 2022 to protest cruel death from Mahsa Amini in 2022.

“I will be closely monitoring this incident, including the authorities’ response,” Mai Sato wrote on X. She shared a video that showed a woman sitting and walking around the university campus in her underwear.

Another video shows how she was detained by security forces and forced into a car.

Iranian security forces reportedly attacked the woman and tore off her clothes inside. TehranResearch Department of Islamic Azad University on Saturday for non-compliance with hijab rules.

Local daily newspaper Hamshahri reported on its website, citing an “informed source”, that the woman “has serious mental problems and, after investigation, will most likely be transferred to a psychiatric hospital.”

FarhihteganA newspaper associated with Azad University said she was admitted to a mental hospital.

In a video circulated by state media, the man identified himself as the woman’s husband and said she was a mother of two and suffered from mental illness.

Amir Mahjoub, director general of public relations at the Islamic Azad University, said: “Following an indecent act by a university research student, campus security intervened and handed the person over to law enforcement.”

“The motives and underlying reasons for the student’s actions are currently under investigation.”

Her arrest sparked a backlash against the Iranian regime for suppressing dissent using familiar methods previously used by authorities to suppress women protesters.

Jailed Nobel Peace Prize laureate Narges Mohammadi issued a statement from prison calling the woman’s body “a symbol of rebellion, anger and resistance.” Iran International reported.

Ms Mohammadi said the women were paying the price for their defiance but were not submitting to force when she called for the student’s release.

The hashtag “Girl in Science and Exploration” began trending on social media, with people sharing artwork and sayings in solidarity with the woman.

“Iranian women are rebelling against everything that has imprisoned them. They rebel against everything that encourages them to remain silent,” wrote activist Hamed Esmailion in Arabic.

Amnesty International Iran called on authorities to “immediately and unconditionally” release the student.

A growing number of women are challenging the country’s strict hijab laws by removing the veil following Amini’s death.

Twenty-two year old Amini died after being detained by the morality police for wearing the hijab incorrectly. Her death was a turning point, causing unprecedented protests known as “Women, Life, Freedom”, which lasted three months in the country.

The months-long security measures that followed killed more than 500 people and detained more than 22,000.

However, media reports indicate that nothing has changed since the protests, and scattered photographs and videos have emerged showing officers beating women and young girls.

In October 2023, Iranian Teenage Armita Geravand was wounded in a mysterious incident in the Tehran metro while not wearing a headscarf. She later died in hospital after falling into a coma.