Women participated in a protest organized by the "Woman Life Freedom Collective" (Femme Vie Liberte) and the Association Phenix near Sorbonne University in Paris on Tuesday, in solidarity with an Iranian student who was arrested after stripping down to her underwear in Tehran.
Iran's science minister, Hossein Simaei, condemned the student's actions as "immoral and uncustomary." He stated, "She broke the norms, and her behavior was not based on Sharia, was immoral and uncustomary," during a weekly cabinet meeting, clarifying that she had not been expelled from her university.
A video went viral on Saturday, showing a woman, identified as a student at the Islamic Azad University in Tehran, sitting and walking around campus and later on the street in her underwear. Simaei accused those who shared the footage of promoting prostitution, emphasizing that such incidents should not be encouraged as they are neither morally nor religiously justified.
Iranian media outlets circulated a blurred clip of the student. Amnesty International reported that she was violently arrested after protesting against the abusive enforcement of compulsory veiling by security officials. Since the 1979 Islamic revolution, covering the neck and head and dressing modestly has been mandatory for women in Iran.
Government spokesman Fatemeh Mohajerani dismissed claims that the incident began with a hijab warning and denied that the student was violently arrested. She stated, "The issue was actually something else," noting that "this level of nudity is not accepted anywhere." Mohajerani added, "The girl was not dealt with harshly in any way."
The university issued a statement on Saturday, stating that the girl was "handed to the police station" and found to be "under severe pressure and suffering from a mental disorder." The arrest comes amid months-long nationwide protests in Iran following the September 2022 death in custody of 22-year-old Iranian-Kurd Mahsa Amini, who was arrested for allegedly violating the Islamic republic's strict dress code for women.
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