CNN
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A female student stripped to her underwear outside her university in Iran was a protest against the country’s strict Islamic dress code, according to some student and rights groups.

A video circulating on social media and shared by rights group Amnesty International showed the woman sitting outside the university in her underwear and with her hair uncovered.

She gestures to her fellow students, many of whom are women and wear headscarves, before strolling through the building.

Another video shows her walking down a road, still in a state of undress, before a group of men surround her, bundle her into a car and drive away.

Amnesty said on Saturday that the woman was “forcibly arrested” after she protested against the “abusive enforcement” of the dress code at Islamic Azad University in Tehran.

The woman had previously been harassed by members of the Basij, an Iranian volunteer paramilitary group, on the university grounds, according to an Iranian student social media channel, the Amir Kabir Newsletter. It was alleged that members of the force tore her headscarf and clothing.

Citing eyewitnesses, state news agency Fars reported that the student took off her clothes after two security personnel “spoke calmly to her” and warned her about flouting the dress code.

Woman strips to her underwear outside a university in Tehran

The university’s PR director said the woman had psychological problems.

CNN has not been able to independently determine the circumstances behind the incident.

Mai Sato, the UN special rapporteur on the Islamic Republic of Iran, said on X that she would “closely monitor this incident, including the authorities’ response.”

Wearing a hijab (or headscarf) in public is mandatory for women under Iran’s strict interpretation of Islamic law, which is enforced by the country’s so-called morality police.

Iranian women can be subject to harsh punishments even for minor infractions.

In 2022, protests against the dress code broke out across Iran following the death of Mahsa Amini, a 22-year-old woman who died in the custody of the vice squad after being arrested for allegedly not wearing her headscarf properly.

The subsequent violent crackdown by the Iranian regime left hundreds of people dead. Since then, many Iranian women have protested by removing their headscarves in public.

Amnesty called for the Azad University student’s immediate and unconditional release and demanded she be given access to her family and lawyer.

“Allegations of assault and sexual violence against her during her arrest require independent and impartial investigation,” the human rights activists said in a statement about X. “Those responsible must be held accountable.”

Azad University PR director Amir Mahjob said in a post on

In a later message, citing a police report, he said the student was “under severe mental pressure and had a mental disorder.”

He also said the student was a mother of two, separated from her husband, and that he hoped her family’s reputation would not suffer from online “rumours”.