DUBAI (Reuters) – A young woman stripped naked at an Iranian university on Saturday, apparently to protest the country’s strict Islamic dress code, according to online videos and media reports.
A video posted on social media showed security guards from a branch of the Islamic Azad University arresting the unidentified woman. University spokesperson Amir Mahjob told X that “at the police station… it was discovered that she was suffering from severe mental pressure and mental disorders.”
But some social media users suggested the woman’s action was a deliberate protest.
“For most women, being… in underwear in public is one of their worst nightmares… It’s a reaction to (the authorities’) stupid insistence on compulsory hijab,” said Lei La, an X user, said in a comment accompanying the video.
The woman’s fate is not known, but the popular daily Hamshahri said on its website: “An informed source said that… the perpetrator of this act suffers from serious mental problems and, after investigation, she will most likely be transferred to a psychiatric hospital detention center.
A growing number of women have defied authorities by removing their veils after nationwide protests following the September 2022 death of a young Iranian Kurdish woman detained by morality police for allegedly violating hijab rules . Security forces violently suppressed the revolt.
(Reporting by Dubai newsroom; editing by Ros Russell)
