Global Roundup: Iran Student Strips in Protest, Indigenous Women Climate Work Underfunded, Trans Woman Win vs Police, Pakistan Police "Pink Wheels," Mexico Museum Removes Art Offensive To Sex Workers

Footage of an Iranian woman who reportedly stripped in protest outside her university appears to have been shot by onlookers in a neighbouring building. Photo: X/chelseahartisme via AFP

Amnesty International has called on authorities in Iran to “immediately and unconditionally” release a female student who was arrested after stripping to her underwear in what the organisation described as a public protest against harassment relating to the country’s strict dress code.

The incident took place after the woman, who has not been identified, reportedly had a confrontation with members of the Basij paramilitary force who ripped her headscarf and tore at her clothes inside Tehran’s prestigious Islamic Azad University.

Videos posted to social media appear to show the woman removing her clothes and walking out on to the street in her underwear. A second video appears to show the woman being bundled into a car by men in plainclothes.

The student media outlet Amir Kabir newsletter said the woman had been harassed by a Basij member for not wearing a headscarf. Under Iran’s mandatory dress code, women must wear a headscarf and loose-fitting clothes in public.

The media outlet also alleged that she was beaten during the arrest and on Saturday said that information about the woman’s condition and whereabouts was unavailable.

Social media users suggested the woman's action was a deliberate protest.

For most women, being ...in their underwear in public is one of their worst nightmares, ... This is a reaction to the (authorities') stupid insistence on the mandatory hijab. -Lei La, a user on X.

Growing numbers of women have defied authorities by discarding their veils after nationwide protests that followed the death in September 2022 of a young Iranian Kurdish woman in the custody of the morality police for allegedly violating hijab rules.

Although security forces violently ended the protests, since Amini’s death Iranian women and girls have at times removed their headscarves in public in defiance, and others around the world have joined in solidarity. 

Even though it carries a risk, Iranian women can increasingly be seen in the restaurants, cafés and malls of Tehran without their headscarves, especially at night or on the weekend