Key points
- The Iranian embassy in Paris described the unidentified woman as a student and mother of two.
- University security guards reportedly harassed her about her clothes.
- The Iranian government said the incident did not begin with a dispute over her dress.
An Iranian student who stripped to her underwear in Tehran to protest alleged harassment of her clothing has been transferred to a “specialized treatment” center, the Iranian embassy in Paris said on Wednesday.
“The student in question suffers from mental fragility and was transferred by emergency social services ambulance to a specialized care centre,” it said, without providing further details about the centre.
Concern has grown over the young woman’s whereabouts and well-being, with campaigners worried that authorities may lock her up in a mental institution.
The Paris embassy statement described her as a mother of two separated from her husband.
“Once recovered, she will resume her studies at university. Although, of course, the final decision lies with the institutions concerned,” the embassy said.
Persian-language media outside Iran reported that university security guards harassed her over what she was wearing, tearing her headscarf and clothes. Then he took most of them off in protest.
The footage shows her walking defiantly down the street before plainclothes officers bundle her into an unmarked car and drive away.
Activists say there have been past examples of Iranian authorities sending women showing opposition to the Islamic system to psychiatric institutions, particularly during the 2022-2023 nationwide protests.
Amnesty International said late Tuesday that reports of her “delivery to an unnamed psychiatric hospital are very disturbing,” adding that it had “previously documented how Iranian authorities equate violation of the mandatory veil with ‘mental disorders’ requiring ‘treatment ‘.”
In Tehran, the government rejected reports that the incident began with a dispute over her dress and denied that she was violently arrested.
The statement from the Iranian embassy states that “the student needs care for her family” and that it is essential to respect her “dignity, intimacy and private life”.
But the video of the student walking calmly around Tehran in her underwear among other women in a black Islamic chador dress has made her, for many, an icon of the struggle of Iranian women for their rights.
According to the mandatory dress code in Iran, women must wear a headscarf and loose clothing in public.
Masih Alinejad, a US-based opposition activist who has been pushing for the abolition of compulsory veiling in Iran for years, said the woman’s associates had told her that she was “not only mentally healthy but also a lively woman courageous and full of energy.” joy and vitality”.
