Woman arrested for stripping to underwear in ‘hijab protest’ has been released

A woman who was arrested after stripping off her clothes in protest against Iran’s hijab laws has been released without charge.

Morality police had torn her dress for ‘not wearing a headscarf’, so she stripped down to her underwear and walked around the Tehran’s Islamic Azad University, where she studies.

The student, identified as Ahoo Daryaei, was then bundled into a car by men in plain clothes, leaving her with severe injuries, according to the Amir Kabir student newsletter.

‘Blood stains from the student were reportedly seen on the car’s tyres’, it said.

She was then taken to a mental hospital because, officials claimed, she was ‘under severe stress and suffering from mental disorders’.

Her arrest, which was captured on camera, sparked protests and international condemnation.

Now she has been released without charge. On Tuesday, judiciary spokesperson Asghar Jahangir said: ‘Considering that she was sent to the hospital, and it was found that she was ill, she was handed over to her family… and no judicial case has been filed against her.’

She hasn’t been expelled, but Science Minister Hossein Simaei, who oversees universities, described her actions as ‘immoral and uncustomary’.

It has been mandatory for women in Iran to cover their hair and dress ‘modestly’ since the Islamic Revolution in 1979.

Those laws have increasingly become a flashpoint in Iranian society, without more than 500 people killed in protests that erupted after the death of one woman in police custody two years ago.

Mahsa Amini, a 22-year-old Kurdish woman, had been detained for not wearing her headscarf properly while visiting Tehran in September 2022.

She later died in police custody in hospital, with eyewitnesses claiming they saw her beaten by police for showing her hair.

A year later, teenager Armita Geravand was left in a coma from injuries sustained while being accosted for not wearing a head covering on the capital’s metro. She later died in hospital.

Ms Daryaei’s actions earlier this month have been praised, including by human rights group Amnesty International, which called it a ‘protest against abusive enforcement of compulsory veiling by security officials’.

Masih Alinejad, a journalist and women’s rights activist, said: ‘She turned her body into a protest, stripping to her underwear and marching through campus – defying a regime that constantly controls women’s bodies.

‘Her act is a powerful reminder of Iranian women’s fight for freedom. Yes, we use our bodies like weapons to fight back a regime that kills women for showing their hair.’

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